Ozarks Healthcare welcomes First Baby of the New Year

Ozarks Healthcare is excited to welcome its first baby of the New Year, Theodore Blaze Dillinger, born to Jonathan and Alicia Dillinger at Ozarks Healthcare’s Women’s Center on January 5 at 2:28 a.m.

Theodore was delivered by Dr. Tony Lam, OB/GYN at Ozarks Healthcare Women’s Health, and weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces, measuring 21 inches long at birth.

To celebrate this special arrival, the Dillinger family received a wagon and car seat filled with newborn care items, toys, and essentials to help welcome Theodore home. Ozarks Healthcare also extends sincere thanks to the Busy Hands and Stitchers of the West Plains Senior Center, who generously donated a hand-crocheted swaddle, blanket, and additional goodies for the family.

“Ozarks Healthcare is honored to help families celebrate these unforgettable moments,” Terence Farrell, Ozarks Healthcare President and CEO, said. “Welcoming our New Year baby is a meaningful tradition, made even more special by the generosity of our community partners.”

Ozarks Healthcare Women’s Center is a 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility designed to support families through every stage of childbirth. The Women’s Center features modern labor and delivery rooms, gynecological surgery facilities, and educational spaces, and includes five labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum rooms, along with advanced newborn technology. Each year, the Women’s Center supports the delivery of more than 500 newborns, providing compassionate, family-centered care close to home.

Ozarks Healthcare congratulates the Dillinger family and wishes them all the best as they begin this exciting new chapter.

Ozarks Healthcare is a not-for-profit health system that serves more than 160,000 residents across south-central Missouri and northern Arkansas. With its main campus residing in West Plains, Missouri, the health system offers a full spectrum of healthcare for all ages through its 114-bed hospital, behavioral health, therapies, pharmacies, rehabilitation, and home care services, along with specialty and family medicine clinics. Ozarks Healthcare has rural locations across an eight-county service area and is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

Ozarks Healthcare Women’s Center nurses are pictured with Ozarks Healthcare’s first newborn of 2026, Theodore Blaze Dillinger, parents Jonathan and Alicia Dillinger, and Dr. Tony Lam. 

Ozarks Healthcare welcomed its first baby of the New Year, Theodore Blaze Dillinger, born to Jonathan and Alicia Dillinger at Ozarks Healthcare’s Women’s Center on January 5 at 2:28 a.m.

Ozarks Healthcare Women’s Center nurses are pictured with gifts from the Busy Hands and Stitchers of the West Plains Senior Center, who generously donated a hand-crocheted swaddle, blanket, and additional goodies for the 2026 New Year Baby at Ozarks Healthcare.