Founded in 1884 as the Providence Lying-In Hospital, the hospital's initial purpose was very limited. Providence Lying-In, located at the General James Estate on Slocum Street in Providence, was exclusively a maternity hospital where women could safely deliver their babies. Two years later, we relocated to the corner of State and Field Streets, eventually outgrowing the building.
In 1926 we moved to a new facility at 50 Maude Street which was to be our home for the next 60 years. The Maude Street hospital was expanded, extensively renovated, and modernized over the years to keep pace with increasing and changing patient needs as well as new medical technology.
With these developments came a new name that more accurately reflected our broadened services for women and newborns - we became Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, with far-reaching responsibilities to a population of 1.5 million. In the late 1970s, it was clear that our future process required additional physical expansion and program developments. As a result, we affiliated with Rhode Island Hospital and, in 1986, relocated to an entirely new Women & Infants facility on Dudley Street in Providence.
Today, Women & Infants is one of the premier health care facilities for women in the country. As the largest obstetrical facility in the state, the second-largest in New England, and the ninth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country, Women & Infants each year delivers nearly 8,400 babies and cares for 1,200 newborns in our Special Care Nursery - the only newborn intensive care unit in the region. Our gynecologic and general surgical program, with a volume of more than 7,500 procedures a year, now provides a comprehensive array of services to meet the needs of women throughout their lifespan.
From our main hospital building and a number of convenient satellite facilities nearby, we now provide women and their families with the most sophisticated services in infertility treatment, breast care, gynecologic cancer, urinary incontinence, prenatal diagnosis, low and high-risk obstetrics, gynecology care, women's gastrointestinal health, behavioral health, and primary care. We have also maintained our firm commitment to preventive health care, offering educational programs and a wide range of medical, nutritional, and support services through our Obstetrics and Gynecology Care Center and our outreach sites in East Greenwich, South Kingstown, and Woonsocket.
Women & Infants is also committed to medical education and research. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology, and newborn pediatrics, Women & Infants maintains teaching relationships with numerous nursing and professional schools. Our research efforts have earned national recognition and support. Most notably, the hospital has been involved in pioneering a newborn hearing screening test, improving detection of Down Syndrome through the AFP test, and studying the impact of diabetes in pregnancy.
We are proud of our reputation as southeastern New England's regional center for the care of women and infants, and we will continue to build on those services that improve the health of our region's women, provide for safe, family-centered childbirth, and assure infants the opportunity for normal growth and development. In all of these, we are committed to ever-increasing excellence.
At Women & Infants Hospital, a major teaching hospital of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, we strive to empower women of all ages, races, ethnicities, and beliefs, through exceptional healthcare throughout every stage of life.
We pride ourselves in providing nationally leading services in women’s wellness, mental health, and starting a family.
Women & Infants will be the recognized leader in health care for women and infants.
Each year, much forethought is given to establishing and growing programs and channeling innovative minds to meet the current needs of women and babies while continuing to fuel the hospital’s future. Through the decades, administrators, physicians, researchers and staff have reached for – and achieved – greatness. These days, the bar has been raised even higher as the hospital family works collectively to make Women & Infants the recognized leader in health care for women and newborns.
Staff drives the success of any institution. Techniques, equipment and plans for the future are useless without a skilled workforce and administration. Through the decades, Women & Infants has been graced with the intelligence, intuition, passion and dedication of thousands of staff members, nurses, physicians and administrators.
From the very beginning, Women & Infants has been a vibrant research facility. Staff and physicians do not accept medical mysteries; they probe for answers, solutions, cures. It’s part of being a comprehensive facility. Through the years, there have been many research-related highlights that have advanced the way the world cares for women and newborns.
Women & Infants administrators have always understood that being a leader comes with responsibility. Part of that responsibility is ensuring there are enough high quality caregivers for the community, both today and tomorrow. The hospital’s commitment to academics was forged after its doors opened in 1884 when women interested in becoming nurses asked to be trained. Since then, education within the hospital evolved to include physicians.
Today's hospital is a tribute to its rich legacy, offering a highly skilled workforce, forward-thinking administration, cutting-edge research and programs that bring quality care and job training into the community.