In response to population growth in central Texas, Ascension has opened a women's hospital in Austin.
The healthcare system opened the $362 million, 178-bed Ascension Seton Women's Hospital on the campus of Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin this spring. The facility provides advanced maternal and fetal care, including high-risk pregnancy care, and around-the-clock emergency services as well as gynecological services, according to its website. A corridor connects the women's hospital to the medical center.
Among the new women's hospital's offerings are low-intervention birth suites with labor tubs, spacious antepartum rooms, private labor and delivery recovery suites, private NICU rooms and expanded patient parking. The facility has four operating rooms, a 14-bed women's emergency department, and minimally invasive gynecologic surgery capabilities.
A campaign by the Ascension Seton Foundation raised $12 million from 2,700 donors to support the women's hospital. The capital helped to fund NICU equipment, gynecological surgery equipment, and a mental health support program for families in the NICU.
Analysis from the Central Texas Council of Governments documents regional growth that is projected to continue. On its website, that organization says that central Texas, which consists of seven counties and 32 cities in the heart of the state, had a total population of 518,529 as of the 2020 Census. The organization expects the region to reach 708,829 people by 2028.