Union joins drive to save birthing center
The California Nurses Association joined the call to save Redwood Memorial Hospital’s birthing center in Fortuna which St. Joseph Health announced last week would be closing July 1. The association, which represents approximately 3,500 nurses at Providence Health across the state, said the closure could compromise patient safety for mothers and babies.
Jennifer Hovie has worked as a registered nurse at Redwood Memorial Hospital for 13 years and called the pending closure “an enormous loss.”
“I think it’s a tragic position that Humboldt County is finding itself in,” Hovie told the Times-Standard on Friday morning. “Removing onethird of the birthing options is awful, women’s healthcare is an essential community service and women and families really should have a safe place in their own communities to give birth.”
Providence Health, which acquired St. Joseph Eureka and Redwood Memorial in 2015, said its decision follows years of declining birth rates at Redwood Memorial.
Hovie could not confirm or deny this claim but said having a local obstetrics unit is essential for families and women giving birth.
“That extra time to get to St. Joe’s can be really crucial. I mean, in labor and deliveries sometimes seconds really do count. Adding an additional 30 to 45 minutes is not a good plan in my opinion, especially for the folks in Southern Humboldt who are already traveling so far,” Hovie said.
Google Maps states there is an estimated travel time of 30 minutes between Redwood Memorial and St. Joseph Hospital.
“It’s been reported that the nearest place to give birth other than Redwood Memorial is Willits but that’s actually incorrect — it’s Ukiah,” Hovie said. “Having an even larger gap than we already had from Fortuna to Ukiah and now from Eureka to Ukiah beginning in July, it’s just a long way. A lot of things can happen and I’m nervous for the families in our community.”
St. Joseph Health spokesperson Christian Hill told the Times-Standard the hospital will continue to support prenatal services through coordination with Open Door Community Health Center, Redwood Women’s Center in Fortuna, United Indian Health Services in Arcata and (St. Joseph) medical group offices in Eureka.
“By focusing obstetric services at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, we will be better able to recruit and retain Humboldt based clinicians with expertise in obstetrics and in the care of newborns, maintain competence of the entire team, provide critical support of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for all moms and babies, while supporting the important role of Redwood Memorial Hospital as a Critical Access Hospital,” Hill said.
St. Joseph Health said it will remodel its obstetrics unit in Eureka to accommodate additional patients but Hovie fears it’s not enough.
“There was a town hall on Thursday hosted by the hospital administration and people had an opportunity to write in questions regarding the closure of the labor and delivery unit. Several of the questions were about the space at St. Joe’s and how they were planning to accommodate extra patients and their reply was about paint and new veneer on the cabinets and artwork,” Hovie said. “My concern isn’t that old or where they are physically going to put people at St. Joe’s, but my concern is also about the community members that don’t have easy access to a car or they don’t have time to add an additional hour into an already really taxing situation of needing to go and make sure that their baby is OK.”
According to the Humboldt County Community Health Assessment, almost a quarter of pregnant women in Humboldt County said they did not receive prenatal care during their first trimester. “The rate is especially low for Native American mothers, and the Native American mortality rate is more than twice that for Humboldt County overall at 14.5 per 1000 live births compared to 6.9 overall,” the CNA said.
Earlier this week, Eel River Valley community members launched save moms and babies. or gas well as a Facebook group, facebook.com/ save moms and babies, calling upon St. Joseph Health to reconsider.
A petition calling for state Attorney General Xavier Beccera to intervene has gained more than 2,300 signatures since it was created one year ago.
“The current legal requirement to provide women’s & children’s healthcare services will expire next June,” the petition states. “Without a legal requirement to maintain these vital health services, the entire Eel River Valley will struggle to provide emergency care for women and children in our community. Patients from the most Southern parts of Humboldt County would need to travel an additional 30 minutes to the St. Joseph Eureka hospital while suffering in an emergency.”
Hovie said in the event of an emergency, emergency room staff will be able to facilitate a birth but will have to undergo additional training.
“OB is a specialized department and we do have a very specific set of skills that take time and mentoring, so evaluating whether someone is actually in the midst of an obstetrical emergency isn’t something that you can learn in one or two sessions overnight,” Hovie said. “I don’t know what the plan is to get the emergency room staff trained and ready to deal with emergency situations that are going to walk through the door.”