By Barrett Seaman—
With a crowd of doctors, administrators, local politicians and community leaders present, Phelps Hospital officially dedicated a new 22,754-sq. ft. “Maternal Child Health Center” on the hospital’s fourth floor, where some rooms with Hudson River views would be the envy of any real estate agent.
The center, which has all the requisite equipment of a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) needed to handle birth-related complications, the center is an invitation to expectant mothers to choose Phelps as the place they want to bring a new family member into the world.
The new center, which cost $24.5 million over three years to complete, features four modern labor and delivery rooms with tubs, two triage rooms and a triage bay, two operating rooms, a two-bed recovery room and 15 private postpartum rooms with en suite bathrooms. It also has a dedicated well-baby nursery and a five-bed nursery suite staffed by neonatologists for immediate care and stabilization of sick newborns.

For cases where complications are involved, the center has a room where the parents can stay overnight or until the baby is ready to go home. As State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins acknowledged in remarks before the ribbon-cutting, “Childbirth should be a very easy, spontaneous wonderful thing, but…”
“The project has reimagined the entire floor with modern amenities, enhanced privacy and improved spaces for both patients and staff,” said Beata Mastalerz, president of Phelps Hospital. “It’s like having a baby at a boutique bed and breakfast overlooking the Hudson River, while receiving medical expertise, cutting-edge-technology and personalized care.”
Phelps typically delivers about 1,000 babies a year. The hope, says Karen Murray, MD, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital, is that if more prospective parents knew what Phelps has to offer, they could increase that number to 1,200.
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