Parkview pulls labor services in DeKalb, LaGrange counties
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DeKalb and LaGrange counties will have fewer options for pregnant people to give birth after Parkview Health announced it is closing the labor and delivery departments of its hospitals in those counties.
Our partners at WPTA-TV report the health system will stop providing such care in mid-September.
Parkview said it had started to contact expecting mothers to transition their care elsewhere and will offer workers similar roles at the other locations in the hospital system.
“Rural hospitals across the country have experienced ongoing challenges in ensuring sustainable access to high quality obstetrics services,” Parkview Health said in a statement to WPTA.
The news has shocked the rural communities, and people said they are now scrambling to find a new hospital to have their baby. Michelle Gresham, an independent doula and birth photographer, told the station she believes the communities are losing crucial services, especially those who cannot make it to Fort Wayne due to the distances, cost or quick labor.
“I think of being in these women’s shoes and I am heartbroken for them, and they are heartbroken because they don’t want to go anywhere else,” Gresham said. “They want to be born at DeKalb where they feel safe, they feel heard, they feel they can trust their midwives who are with them through labor and birth and postpartum.”
A rally will be held at noon Sept. 7 outside Parkview DeKalb Hospital in Auburn, where organizers say they are supporting the midwives and OB nurses.
Parkview said in a statement it will continue to provide birthing services at five hospitals in the region, including Parkview Huntington Hospital, Parkview Noble Hospital, Parkview Whitley Hospital, Parkview Hospital Randallia and the Parkview Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
“Labor and delivery services are also available in Bryan, Ohio, at Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers, which will join Parkview Health in October, and we are investing in a new Family Birthing Center at Parkview Kosciusko Hospital in 2024. Parkview Wabash Hospital does not offer labor and delivery,” Parkview said.