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NewYork-Presbyterian today celebrated the opening of the NewYork-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to providing exceptional, individualized care to pregnant women and their newborn babies before, during, and after childbirth—including advanced care for high-risk pregnancies and newborns who require extra support.

Located on the top six floors of the NewYork-Presbyterian David H. Koch Center, the 246,500-square-foot hospital’s 75 antepartum and postpartum rooms allow every patient to have their own room, promoting privacy, family bonding and comfort. The 60-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) also features private rooms. The new hospital’s Level IV NICU—offering the highest level of critical care for newborns—is the first in New York City that has a dedicated MRI and operating room right in the NICU.

The new facility, which opened on August 2, nearly triples the space currently available for the care of pregnant women and newborns at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and will accommodate more than 7,000 births a year. It is part of a systemwide initiative to enhance obstetric services across NewYork-Presbyterian’s campuses.

The hospital is made possible by a $75 million gift from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which also supported the creation of the Alexandra & Steven Cohen Pediatric Emergency Department at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Washington Heights.

“Every child and every mother deserves access to the highest quality of care,” said Alexandra Cohen. “We are proud to support NewYork-Presbyterian and the creation of this remarkable new hospital where each patient will be treated with great compassion while receiving the very best care during this momentous time in their life.”

“The opening of the NewYork-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns reflects NewYork-Presbyterian’s commitment to setting ever-higher standards of care for women and their newborns,” said Jerry I. Speyer, chairman of the NewYork-Presbyterian Board of Trustees. “This incredible facility will be home to the latest equipment and resources available, and most importantly, the most talented and dedicated doctors, nurses, and care teams in New York or in the country.”

"The NewYork-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns has been designed, first and foremost, as a place for mothers and their babies to receive the highest quality, most personalized level of care available,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian. “The hospital’s best-in-class model of care combines outstanding care teams, cutting-edge clinical technologies and a beautiful, nurturing setting that prioritizes our patients’ privacy, safety and comfort.”

The NYP Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns, which features spacious rooms flooded with natural light and art created by women, serves as a destination for comprehensive, individualized care that is coordinated and seamless. Team members work across disciplines and specialties to treat even the most complex maternal-fetal and newborn conditions. Working collaboratively under one roof, multidisciplinary obstetric and neonatal teams of physicians and other health care professionals from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian will care for each patient holistically. These teams include highly trained obstetrician-gynecologists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists, obstetric anesthesiologists, nurses and nurse practitioners, physician assistants, lactation consultants, social workers, nutritionists, geneticists and genetic counselors and psychiatrists, among others. The pediatric specialists at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children's Hospital are available to provide care during and after a newborn's hospital stay.

“The NewYork-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns is a vital addition to our academic medical center,” said Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. “This warm new space for pregnant women and newborns will enhance the compassionate, cutting-edge care we provide women at all stages of pregnancy and their babies, enabling us to further advance our mission of providing outstanding health care in this essential area of medicine.”

“We have been focused on developing an obstetric practice where safety is paramount for mothers and babies, and our teams are guided by the importance of respecting and supporting the diverse needs of every patient,” said Dr. Laura Riley, obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Our clinical teams are the best at what they do, and they are excited to get to work in this ideal, new setting.”

"The opening of the NewYork-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns represents our commitment to expanding access to truly exceptional care for women, their newborns, and the entire family," said Dr. Katherine Heilpern, senior vice president and chief operating officer of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "Whether mothers require complex or more routine care, they will find a beautiful birth experience, a dedicated support team, and everything they need for themselves and their babies.”

Labor and Delivery

The hospital’s Labor and Delivery Unit is a comfortable, private setting offering obstetric services for all types of deliveries, specialized medical and nursing staff, advanced technologies to support labor and delivery, and 24-hour obstetric anesthesiology services to manage discomfort during labor. Patients will be greeted and evaluated in individual triage rooms. Sixteen birthing rooms are all equipped with a special multi-positioned birthing bed and state-of-the art equipment for monitoring and delivery. Five operating rooms, including a fully-equipped operating room with a portable CT scanner and other technologies, give multidisciplinary teams the ability to perform complex procedures and routine cesarean deliveries. Care teams respect each woman’s desired birth experience and support non-medicated childbirth when preferred; the hospital offers tubs for labor pain management, and doulas are welcomed.

Care for High-Risk Pregnancies

For pregnant women with an increased chance for health complications, maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialists offer expert care, including prenatal consultations, fetal monitoring, and state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures. The newly expanded group of MFM physicians specialize in the care of women with high-risk pregnancies and medical complications of pregnancy, such as heart disease, preeclampsia and diabetes. Specialized care is also available for otherwise healthy women whose pregnancies are considered high-risk due to factors such as multiple births, a history of preterm delivery, or history of multiple pregnancy losses.

After-Birth Care

All women delivering at the NYP Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns will stay in one of the 75 private rooms that have a bathroom and shower. The hospital encourages 24-hour rooming-in, which allows mothers to bond with their baby and be available to feed them. Well-baby nurseries are fully staffed and available when mothers need to rest or are not feeling well.

Neonatal Intensive Care

The 60-bed NICU at NYP Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns is the first in New York City with an MRI and an operating room located within the unit. As a Level IV center with advanced in-unit technologies, it can provide care for the sickest infants and offers the highest designated level of newborn care available. The NICU features individual rooms, where a parent can spend the night with their baby, enhancing privacy, comfort and closeness.

Advanced Perinatal Care

The Fetal Care Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center—an internationally recognized program for fetal diagnosis, counseling, and care—has a new home at NYP Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns. The Center provides exceptional care to women whose pregnancies are complicated by fetal conditions. Patients have access to Weill Cornell Medicine physicians, including maternal-fetal medicine specialists and subspecialists in fetal and neonatal cardiac, neurologic, urologic, orthopedic, and gastrointestinal care, among other areas.

Prenatal Testing and Genetic Counseling

The NYP Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns provides prenatal testing and has specialized expertise and dedicated rooms to perform further evaluations, if needed, and prompt access to genetic counselors to explain fetal abnormalities or newly diagnosed genetic conditions. Fifteen ultrasound rooms are available to perform onsite prenatal diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Breastfeeding Support

The NYP Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns is a breastfeeding-friendly hospital that fully supports each mother’s choice of feeding for her newborn—breastfeeding, formula, or a combination of both. The lactation team includes nurses who are certified breastfeeding counselors and lactation consultants who teach daily breastfeeding classes and provide one-on-one support for mothers encountering breastfeeding challenges.

The hospital was designed as a collaboration among HOK, Ballinger and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.

NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic healthcare systems, encompassing 10 hospital campuses across the Greater New York area, more than 200 primary and specialty care clinics and medical groups, and an array of telemedicine services.

A leader in medical education, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is the only academic medical center in the nation affiliated with two world-class medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. This collaboration means patients have access to the country’s leading physicians, the full range of medical specialties, latest innovations in care, and research that is developing cures and saving lives.

Ranked the #4 hospital in the nation and #1 in New York in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals rankings, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is also recognized as among the best in the nation in the U.S. News Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Founded nearly 250 years ago, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has a long legacy of medical breakthroughs and innovation, from the invention of the Pap test to the first successful pediatric heart transplant, to pioneering the groundbreaking heart valve replacement procedure called TAVR.

NewYork-Presbyterian’s 47,000 employees and affiliated physicians are dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care to New Yorkers and patients from across the country and around the world.

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