DARLINGTON - Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County is getting out of the business of delivering babies, citing the low number of infants born at the facility.
Beginning Sept. 30, the facility will no longer provide labor and delivery services. A hospital news release said the decision was made after considering its current obstetric volumes, the economic costs of continuing the services, ensuring the highest level of patient care and a comprehensive study of state and national trends for Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) with low birth rates.
"This is a very hard decision to make," Julie Chikowski, MHLC CEO, said in the release. "However, we have to face the reality that we, like many others who have chosen this path, live in a county with an aging population and too few births to ensure safe, quality outcomes for our patients. As a smaller hospital and clinic we need to focus our resources to meet the needs of our community."
In Wisconsin, 19 other CAHs no longer deliver babies, she said.
"Our patients' safety is our number one priority and it is difficult for caregivers to maintain the necessary skills and experience into the future when there are so few births," said Kathy Ruef, MHLC director of nursing and chief operating officer.
Expecting mothers with due dates prior to Sept. 30 who already have an established doctor-patient relationship with a Family Health clinic physician and who are appropriate to deliver at a smaller hospital will be able to deliver at MHLC. Others may continue prenatal care at Family Health until closer to delivery. A plan for delivery at a facility of the mother's choice will be arranged between the patient and her physician.
Newly-expecting moms in the MHLC community may continue seeing Family Health providers for prenatal care and, after delivery, return for postpartum care and well-baby/child visits.
"We realize this decision will be sad news for many in the community. We have been delivering babies for more than 60 years. The MHLC emergency department physicians and nurses are trained to perform deliveries in case of an emergency and this decision was made in the best interest of our patients and our community," said Mary Roelli, director of emergency services, MHLC.
Beginning Sept. 30, the facility will no longer provide labor and delivery services. A hospital news release said the decision was made after considering its current obstetric volumes, the economic costs of continuing the services, ensuring the highest level of patient care and a comprehensive study of state and national trends for Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) with low birth rates.
"This is a very hard decision to make," Julie Chikowski, MHLC CEO, said in the release. "However, we have to face the reality that we, like many others who have chosen this path, live in a county with an aging population and too few births to ensure safe, quality outcomes for our patients. As a smaller hospital and clinic we need to focus our resources to meet the needs of our community."
In Wisconsin, 19 other CAHs no longer deliver babies, she said.
"Our patients' safety is our number one priority and it is difficult for caregivers to maintain the necessary skills and experience into the future when there are so few births," said Kathy Ruef, MHLC director of nursing and chief operating officer.
Expecting mothers with due dates prior to Sept. 30 who already have an established doctor-patient relationship with a Family Health clinic physician and who are appropriate to deliver at a smaller hospital will be able to deliver at MHLC. Others may continue prenatal care at Family Health until closer to delivery. A plan for delivery at a facility of the mother's choice will be arranged between the patient and her physician.
Newly-expecting moms in the MHLC community may continue seeing Family Health providers for prenatal care and, after delivery, return for postpartum care and well-baby/child visits.
"We realize this decision will be sad news for many in the community. We have been delivering babies for more than 60 years. The MHLC emergency department physicians and nurses are trained to perform deliveries in case of an emergency and this decision was made in the best interest of our patients and our community," said Mary Roelli, director of emergency services, MHLC.