Hillsborough County Hospital Celebrates Record-Breaking Maternity Services

BLOOMINGDALE — RIVERVIEW, FL — St. Joseph's Hospital-South's delivered the most babies ever in the history of the Riverview facility's existence in 2021, a news release said.

The hospital opened in February 2015. Doctors delivered 1,740 babies in 2021 topping the previous record of 1,209 in 2020–a 44 percent increase.

The five highest monthly total of babies delivered in hospital history happened in 2021, according to medical staff:

• 184 – November
• 163- July
• 162 – June
• 130 – May
• 124 - March

“We thank all the families who chose and trusted us as the hospital to deliver their children,” Phil Minden, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South president, said. “The families are the ones who really made this happen. And, I congratulate and thank the doctors and our maternity teams who helped us achieve these milestones. I’m excited to see what 2022 brings. I’m looking forward to hearing the soft chimes ring again often in our hospital nearly 2,000 times in the New Year.”

Soft chimes ring throughout St. Joseph’s Hospital-South each time a new baby is born, staff said.

The hospital is also celebrating in early 2022 the first anniversary of its 11-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The NICU, which opened Feb. 22, 2021, is for babies born prematurely or with special health needs. The Level II NICU provides specialized around-the-clock care 24 hours a day, seven days a week for newborns and their mothers. The NICU is staffed by highly-trained neonatologists, obstetric and pediatric hospitalists and board certified maternal fetal medicine physicians and certified nurses. Mothers are able to stay in the baby’s room during their child’s NICU stay.

BayCare and St. Joseph’s Hospital-South administrators believe there may be a correlation between the record number of babies born at the hospital and the new NICU.

“During pregnancy we know how important it is to have the available resources,” Jenny Leistl, BayCare’s East Region director of patient services in obstetrics, said. “We want to make your birth experience special and support our patients from pregnancy to parenthood.” St. Joseph’s Hospital-South is part of BayCare’s East Region division.

Visit StJosephsSouthMaternity.org to learn more about St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s maternity services.