Wexford Hospital – An Integral Part of the

Wexford Hospital — An Integral Part of the Community

By Janice Lane Palko

“Receiving expert care provided by medical professionals who live in your community at a nearby state-of-the art hospital—that makes all the difference,” said Marcia Klein-Patel, M.D., chair of Allegheny Health Network Women’s Institute, of the new AHN Wexford Hospital in Pine Township.

“In 2012, Highmark and AHN realized that medical care for those living in the northern suburbs was lacking,” said Allan Klapper, M.D., President of AHN Wexford Hospital. “In 2014, the Health + Wellness Pavilion, an out-patient medical, surgical, and diagnostic center, opened, and the community’s response to it was overwhelmingly positive,” said Dr. Klapper. “Then we also realized that we needed an in-patient facility that would not just be for those with Highmark insurance but for all those living north of Pittsburgh, and it made sense to provide that next to the Health + Wellness Pavilion.”

Plans for a new Wexford Hospital were designed in 2018, and the hospital opened on September 30, 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and it provides emergency treatment and expert medical care across a wide range of specialties.

Not only does the Wexford Hospital provide the inpatient care found in teaching hospitals in Pittsburgh, but it also has an OB/GYN department. AHN Wexford Hospital features a broad range of OB-GYN care, high-risk obstetrics, minimally invasive gynecology surgery, gynecologic oncology, urogynecology, and menopausal management.

“Except for the most high-risk patients, we can care for you at the Wexford Hospital,” said Dr. Klein-Patel, “and even for those few who must be treated in the city, we can provide office visits in the north.”

“In planning the new hospital, we identified that there wasn’t an OB unit in northern Allegheny County,” said Dr. Klapper. “The new hospital also has a state-of-the-art Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which means we can care for those babies born 32 weeks of gestation and above. For those babies needing Level III NICU care, we have a heliport on site to transport patients to West Penn Hospital.”

The NICU at Wexford Hospital was modeled after the renovated unit at West Penn Hospital, and each baby has a private room with sleeping accommodations for parents to remaining with the baby. It also has a milk safe for breastfeeding mothers to safely store milk for their babies. Another feature is NICVUE, a camera that allows those who can’t be with the baby in the NICU to see the baby remotely.

Since the hospital’s opening in September 550 babies have been born there, and they are averaging 100 newborns each month. “In fact,” said Dr. Klapper, “on the morning the hospital opened, it was to debut at 8 a.m., but at 7:45 there was a patient waiting in the ER. Of course, we opened early to accommodate the patient, but that only illustrates how much the community has welcomed AHN Wexford Hospital.” n