After 20 years in its current home, the Birth & Women's Health Center is moving to a new location later this year.  We look forward to starting a new year in 2011 in a fresh new place full of exciting possibilities. 

Our birth center is hallowed ground, and we acknowledge its special place in the hearts and stories of thousands of families.  The current building cannot expand to meet our community’s growing demand. Over the last few years, women's desire for an optimal birth experience has placed high demands on birthing centers across the country. We have certainly felt this increased interest in Tucson and as a result have been unable to accommodate all women who have wanted a birth center birth.

Although we feel sadness at leaving our present home, we are thrilled that El Rio Community Health Center has committed to growing the Birth Center.

The move provides us an exciting opportunity to have a larger space that will more fully meet the needs of birth center families.  The new Birth Center will offer a fourth birth room, private restrooms and a birthing tub in every birth room. There will be a multi-functional community education space for Mom and Baby Group, CenteringPregnancy, and other gatherings.  We will keep this peaceful, loving atmosphere and still be close to Tucson Medical Center.

We anticipate moving by the end of this year.  The floor plan and a timeline will soon be available for us to share with you, along with pictures and design concepts.   We are planning ceremonies for both saying goodbye to this center, and celebrating a new beginning.

Stay tuned!  If you have a passion to help, let us know, there is a LOT of work ahead of us.

Yours truly,

Kathy Byrne
Executive Director
El Rio Community Health Center 

Fran Wertman, MN, CNM
Clinical Director
El Rio Birth and Women’s Health Center

Kathryn Schrag, CNM, FNP
Founder: Birth and Women’s Health Center 1982
President: Friends of the Birth Center
Faculty: Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing