100 Orleans babies born in Batavia in ’12

Photo by Tom Rivers – Maryann Cogdill is the nurse manager of the maternity unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia.

BATAVIA – Orleans County mothers delivered 100 babies at United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia last year, the first full year since Medina closed its maternity unit in July 2011.

Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport also closed its maternity wing in 2012. The closings at Medina and Brockport for baby deliveries has pushed more women to choose the Batavia hospital for giving birth.

UMMC last year delivered 653 babies, which was up about 100 births or 20 percent from 2011. The 653 was a new record for the Batavia hospital.

“It’s not just Orleans County,” said Maryann Cogdill, the maternity unit nurse manager. “We have people coming from Erie County, and all the way from Dunkirk.”

Medina, in its last full year with a maternity unit, delivered 132 babies in 2010, far too few for the unit to break even financially.

The Batavia hospital has a women’s care center next to the Medina hospital with two physicians and a midwife. Batavia hired Medina’s obstetrician and gynecologist on July 1, 2011.

Batavia was delivering about 500 babies a year, but it is breaking a trend among smaller hospitals with the increase in numbers.

The hospital last month celebrated a $2 million renovation to the maternity unit. The hospital created 10 private post partum patient rooms with private bathrooms and sleeping accommodations for the birth partner. UMMC also added a family lounge area, Nurses’ Station, visitor restrooms, storage and office areas, and improvements to the nursery.