New birth center, women’s clinic open at Owatonna hospital

The Birth Center and Women’s Health Clinic at Allina Hospital in Owatonna took center stage Sunday afternoon as an open house was held at the hospital to introduce both facilities to the public.

Changes to the birth center came about in late 2025 when Mayo Clinic Health System announced it would be ending labor and delivery services at the Owatonna Hospital. The hospital is operated by Allina which also has a clinic on the hospital campus as does the Mayo Health System. Mayo had been providing the staff for labor and delivery services.

After Mayo Health’s announcement, Allina stepped up to provide labor and delivery services at the Owatonna hospital and also accelerate plans to open a Women’s Health Clinic. As part of the new plan, Allina officials said they would be stopping labor and delivery services at the Allina Hospital in Faribault.

Both Allina and Mayo Health announced they would continue with pre- and post-natal care at their Owatonna and Faribault clinics.

Sunday’s open house gave visitors a chance to talk with staff at both the Birth Center and Women’s Health Clinic. Representatives from the Owatonna School District’s Early Childhood and Family Education program and Steele County Public Health were also available with information about their programs as were Allina staff members to talk about breastfeeding and car seat safety.

The transition from Mayo Health to Allina Health went smoothly, said Lori Wencl, a labor/delivery nurse at the hospital.

The Birth Center has two physicians, said Susan Shaft, Birth Center manager. There are also 16 doctors from other Allina facilities who are available to staff the Birth Center when the two Owatonna physicians are not on duty.

The center, she said, handles the actual deliveries for babies from both Allina and Mayo Health Clinics. Both clinics have their own pre- and post-natal physicians, she said.

Kelly Schwichtenberg, the RN on duty at the Birth Center on Sunday, showed visitors around the facility, explaining to visitors the initial exam rooms that are generally the first stop at the center, the actual delivery rooms and the post-partum rooms for after delivery care.

Generally, Schwichtenberg said, mothers and babies, stay in the delivery room for about two hours after birth and then move to a post-partum room where they will stay one or two days. The rooms are set up so there is also space for the father or other family member to stay.

There is also a nursery, she said, but the goal is to have the baby spend as much time with mom and dad as possible.

Dr. Ashley Thorson, one of the two Allina physicians assigned to the Owatonna Birth Center, said Allina has a network of physicians to fill in at Owatonna on weekends. The goal of Allina, she said, was to keep the center open and to keep it local to serve Owatonna and surrounding areas. The decision to close the birth center at Faribault was made because there were more births at the Owatonna center and also because of Faribault’s close proximity to the birth center at the Northfield Hospital which is also an Allina facility.

The Women’s Health Clinic is new, staff said. It will provide services such as obstetrics/pregnancy care, gynecology, family planning/birth control and menopause care.

The Birth Center also offers the Baby Café which is a free, family-friendly drop-in breastfeeding group offered weekly on Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the hospital’s Community Resource Center. Certified lactation counselors will be available, and it will offer an opportunity to meet with other breastfeeding moms as well as have a scale to weigh babies.

On Tuesday’s, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., there is a free clinic for newborns and their parents at the Community Education Center, 122 E. McKinley St., Owatonna where a parent educator or nurse is on hand to answer questions and concerns.

Every baby born at the Owatonna Hospital is also sent home with a Wrapped in Love sleep sack, courtesy of the Owatonna Hospital Auxiliary. The sleep sack is a wearable blanket for use by the baby to sleep safely in the crib.