WOOSTER – With obstetrics and gynecology units continually closing, first in Wadsworth-Rittman a few years ago and now recently in Medina, the hospital here is eager to let patients know it’s alive and well.

“We broke our record (in 2016),” Tara Raudebaugh, director of perinatal services at Wooster Community Hospital, said. “We had 1,100 deliveries. We are doing very well.”

Wooster has eight practicing obstetricians and collaborates with Akron Children’s Hospital, staffing a special care facility for infants up to eight weeks premature and other infants with special needs. They also have pediatric hospitalists, OB-GYNs on continuous call to address issues as they arise.

“This means they don’t have to transport them,” Raudebaugh said.

The Creston and Seville areas, she said, had already split births between Wooster and Medina and patients in Medina who have just lost their birthing unit can make a straight drive 25 miles down state Route 3.

“We provide a free transportation service,” hospital spokesperson Michelle Quisenberry said.

For their drive, Raudebaugh and Quiseberry said patients would find private birthing rooms in “a beautiful facility.”

The unit, called “the Women’s Pavilion,” accommodates a variety of labor styles and pain management techniques.

“We provide hydrotherapy, where the patient has a warm bath,” Raudebaugh said. “We also have nitrous oxide and, of course, anesthetic, like epidurals.”

She said even if a baby is born in an operating room, they will still ensure at least an hour of “skin-to-skin” contact between the mother and her new baby to reduce stress on both and promote bonding.

“And we try to make it affordable for new moms,” Quisenberry said.

Patients looking for a new birthing facility since these closures can call 330-263-8144 between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.