FAQs

Question: When will OB services be suspended?

Answer: Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie plans to temporarily suspend our obstetrical unit (labor and delivery), effective May 30. 

Question: Is this suspension temporary? 

Answer: Yes. We plan on reopening OB services once our new hospital is open and look forward offering this service to the community again.

Question: Why doesn't Baylor Waxahachie just add another floor or new wing to the hospital to care for Obstetrics? 

Answer: There are several reasons why we can't add more space to our current facility.  One is that we are land locked, the other is that we are using our power plant to it's fullest capacity and we wouldn't be able to provide adequate power to a new floor. 

Question: How many babies are born each year at Baylor Waxahachie?

Answer:  On average we deliver two babies per day at Baylor Waxahachie.  

Question: Why can't you expand adult medicine beds and still provide OB services?

Answer: The simple answer is that we are out of room. Due to our structural constraints, repurposing these beds is our only option to accommodate the majority of our patients until a new hospital opens. 

Question: Why was Obstetrics chosen?

Answer: Thanks to advances in modern medicine, many births are now planned events and women have the luxury of choosing which facility they wish to deliver in. We spent many months looking at the options and feel this is the best decision for our patients. By utilizing a unit of the hospital that is in low demand, it will help us serve the patients who have the greatest need.

Question: The hospital indicates that they are going on divert frequently.   Exactly what does that mean?

Answer: Going on divert means that we cannot accept any inpatient admissions to our hospital. During divert, ambulance traffic as well as any patient that needs to be admitted is transferred to another facility.  The patient may be transferred to a facility in Dallas or Ft. Worth depending on other facilities bed availability.

Question: How is the transition of staff being handled?

Answer: Affected staff, physicians and their patients have been notified and processes are in place to help ease the transition. We want to assure all of our obstetrical patients that we will assist them as much as we can. There are three nearby hospitals that offer obstetrical care, the closest being 17 miles away as well as two additional facilities within 25 miles. For our affected employees, we are making every effort to ensure they are taken care of.  We are extremely grateful for their service in the obstetrical unit and our goal is to keep them within the Baylor system.

Question: Is the hospital still providing Pediatric Services?

Answer:   Yes Baylor Waxahachie does take care of pediatric patients.  We provide emergency services, outpatient services, lab, radiology and outpatient care in our physicians’ offices to pediatric patients.  The one change that was recently made was to follow suite with every other Baylor Health Care System hospital and not to admit pediatric patients for inpatient care that are under 12 years old and less than 80 lbs.  These admissions accounted for less than 1% of our admissions and it was impossible to maintain staff competency levels.  We feel that these patients are best served in a children’s hospital. Baylor Dallas a 1,000 bed hospital maintains this same policy. 

Question: Is there a timeline for the opening of the new hospital?

Answer:  There is currently no firm timeline for opening our new facility, but we look forward to sharing that information as soon as we know.