Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso joined leaders from NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Aug. 21 to break ground on a $20 million renovation of the hospital’s Labor and Birthing Suite, including $11 million in funding from his office.
The “state of the art” birthing center is scheduled for completion in fall 2027. Plans call for larger, renovated birthing rooms with tubs for hydrotherapy, as well as a new family comfort space. Other upgrades include a modernized operating room with a simulation lab for staff training. The recovery area, nurse station, medicine room, staff break room, locker rooms, bathroom, and on-call rooms will also be renovated to improve collaboration among midwives, nurses and physicians. Construction will take place in phases to avoid disrupting patient care.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the maternal mortality rate for Black patients in 2023 was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. Black patients are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts.
Reynoso, who has made maternal health care a cornerstone of his administration, said the project is about “more than shiny new technology” — it’s about creating a birthing experience in a safe and comfortable environment.
“Every Brooklynite deserves a health care system that they can trust. Especially Black and Brown Brooklynites who were pushed to the margins of this system for too long,” Reynoso said. “This is not an economic issue; it’s a race issue. And we talk a lot about Black Lives Matter, and in this one case, we can actually make a difference. It just takes political will [and] effort to save every single life. And today, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to show that when we show up, we can save lives.”
In 2024, Woodhull’s labor and delivery unit recorded nearly 1,000 births. The hospital was one of four in the NYC Health + Hospitals system recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a 2025 High Performing hospital for maternity care for uncomplicated pregnancies.
Woodhull CEO Sandra Sneed called the renovation an essential investment in improving maternal health outcomes for Black and Brown patients.
“We are on an upward trajectory, and our goal is to be a top-performing hospital in maternal health,” Sneed said.
Dr. Wendy Wilcox, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Woodhull, said Reynoso’s support would elevate the hospital’s services “from good to great.”
“His historic capital investment in our borough’s maternal health infrastructure is more than just a financial commitment,” Wilcox said. “It’s a statement that every mother, every birthing person, and every family in Brooklyn deserves access to safe, dignified and equitable care.”
Dr. Cynthia Lynch, director of Midwifery Services, noted that Woodhull operates the largest midwifery program in the five boroughs.
Midwifery care during labor and birth, common in European countries like the Netherlands, has been shown to improve outcomes. Research from the Yale School of Medicine found that first-time mothers at medical centers with midwives on their care team were 74% less likely to have their labor induced, 75% less likely to receive oxytocin, and 12% less likely to deliver by cesarean section than those at hospitals without midwives.
At Woodhull, midwives attend 95% of births. In 2024, the hospital reported the lowest cesarean section rate in New York City, at 14%.
“This unit will give our low-risk patients an important option to experience physiologic birth in an environment that’s safe, but also respects and is trusting of the natural process of birth,” Lynch said. “We’re not just breaking ground on this building for this renovation, but we’re really breaking barriers because we’re expanding access to the full spectrum of respectful maternity care with this unit.”
