UPMC Washington expands women’s services with UPMC Magee-Womens
Elijah Dowling sported a onesie bearing the sentiment “New Around Here” while his mom, Rhiannon Jackson, held him Tuesday, one day after he was born at UPMC Magee-Womens in UPMC Washington.
Elijah’s birth wasn’t the only event the hospital celebrated Tuesday afternoon.
UPMC Washington held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its latest expansion of services with UPMC.
UPMC Magee-Womens in Washington is expanding the presence of UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital’s women’s health services, bringing nationally recognized care closer to home for families in Washington County and surrounding communities.
UPMC Magee-Womens will offer specialized women’s health-care services including enhanced pre- and post-natal care and gynecological oncology services.
The goal is to keep women’s health services close to home, support women and families, and make sure women don’t have to travel to Pittsburgh or other areas to get the care they need.
“When we joined UPMC in June 2024, we made a promise to the community to bring UPMC signature services to Washington and Greene counties, and we’re fulfilling that promise here today,” said Brook Ward, president of UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene. “UPMC is here to grow with Washington and continue to deliver world-class care closer to home.”
Ward noted UPMC committed to investing $300 million over 10 years into UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene for facility upgrades and program enhancements following their merger in June 2024.
The expansion of women’s health services is part of UPMC’s plan to make UPMC Washington a key regional hub, and the sixth hub of the UPMC system. Its footprint in Washington County also includes UPMC Children’s, UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
Dr. Mackenzy Radolec, a Peters Township High School graduate who specializes in gynecologic oncology – which focuses on diagnosing and treating cancers of the female reproductive system, including ovarian, cervical, uterine, vaginal and vulvar cancers – said, “It’s really exciting for me because I can now bring the specialized care that I trained for back to the community I grew up in.
“The same care I provide for patients with gynecological cancers that we give in Oakland, they can now get that same treatment much closer to home in Washington, so we perform surgery here to manage gynecologic cancers and we work closely with UPMC Hillman Cancer Center to administer radiation and chemotherapy, which means that women in this area can have comprehensive cancer care without having to travel to Pittsburgh,” said Radolec. “Not having to travel for treatment makes a big difference for patients, and you couple it with the fact that you’re getting treated by a health-care system that is nationally recognized and is known for gynecologic care, and that’s great.”
More specialty services are planned for the future.
Annmarie Lyons, vice president of UPMC Magee-Womens Health Service LIne, said UPMC Magee-Womens “is a name synonymous with excellence in women’s health, noting the hospital is consistently ranked among the top hospitals in the United States for women’s health and is home to one of the country’s largest obstetrics programs, delivering about 10,000 babies a year in the Pittsburgh area.
For Rhiannon Jackson, who delivered Elijah’s big brother, Cole, 4, at the hospital, there was never any doubt about where she would go for maternity care.
“For us to be able to drive down the street and have such a wonderful team, it means more than I can put into words,” said Jackson. “When you’re here, there could be 20 women in this unit, but it feels like you’re the only person they’re focused on.”