Update: Last birth marks Trios’ ‘bittersweet’ closure of 70-year-old Kennewick hospital

A 70-year history of thousands of babies being born at the original Kennewick General Hospital in downtown Kennewick ended this week with a 6 pound, 13 ounce baby boy.

A baby boy, identified only by Trios Health as Baby Fabricio, the child of Zaida and Fabricio, arrived at 6:42 p.m. Monday. He weighed 6 pounds and 13 ounces.

He and his mother were the last patients there, ending a 70-year history that started with a man admitted for surgery after the hospital opened Aug. 1, 1952.

As the first patient, he stayed in one of 23 patient rooms on the second floor, each with two beds and two radios for entertainment.

After Trios Health opened its new hospital at Southridge in 2014, the older hospital building remained in use as Trios Women’s and Children’s Hospital. About 1,400 babies were born annually in recent years at the building.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday Trios opened its new birth center on the Trios Southridge Hospital campus at 3810 Plaza Way in Kennewick.

The first baby born there was Logan, the child of Kayla and Rob, at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Trios Health announced.

He weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces.

LifePoint Health, the owner of Trios Health, invested $22 million to add the new birth center at its Southridge hospital.

Hospital a Kennewick project

Families welcoming a new baby there may not be as impressed by the elevators there as those who gave birth in the original building in 1952.

Babies born in the first-floor delivery room got their first elevator ride to the second floor, which by some accounts included separate nurseries for boy babies and girl babies.

Often this was the first elevator ride for the parents as well, since the hospital had the first passenger elevator in Kennewick.

Relocating the birth center to the growing Southridge area will provide convenience for patients, who will have services all in one place at the hospital building there, and save expenses by not duplicating support services across two hospital campuses, said John Solheim, Trios Health chief executive.

Last week current and former Trios Health employees gathered at the Auburn campus to say their goodbyes and share memories made there.

They honored the facility and the residents of Kennewick who established the original campus, Solheim said.

“It took a tremendous effort and financial commitment to get started, and I am sure if they were here today, they would be proud of what has been accomplished in this facility,” he said.

Kennewick residents wanted a public hospital as early as 1919, by historical accounts. But it was not until an all-out community campaign was launched in 1949 that the seed money for the project was raised.

A house was built on South Tacoma Street, then raffled — a well-received project in the post-war years of tight housing. Musician Bud Alden held a marathon 110-hour radio broadcast in the window of Washington Hardware on Kennewick Avenue, according to accounts collected by historian Barbara Kubik.

Other residents held card parties, a circus and rummage sales.

They collected about $80,000— a large sum for 1952 — which they combined with $550,000 from a bond issue.

But the building cost $725,000, leaving a debt the hospital struggled with for its first six years.

“It is bittersweet to welcome the last baby at our Trios Family Birth Center on our Auburn campus,” said Stephanie Roderick, Trios Birth Center director.

But the staff is “grateful for our new birth center and excited to have welcomed our first baby,” she said.

Both families were sent home with a gift basket of baby items, sparkling cider and two commemorative glasses.

This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 5:00 AM.