Local changes in women’s health care are troubling

What the world needs now is love, sweet love — and kindness, caring and excellent women’s health care. This is what we had in Santa Fe until now.

We are writing to you about the decision by Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center to no longer employ the established and respected midwives and OB/GYNs at Women’s Care Specialists and to contract with a third-party company to provide hospital delivery services and prenatal care.

In the early 2000s there were no Certified Nurse Midwives at Christus until a few dedicated obstetric nurses enrolled in the University of New Mexico midwifery program. A midwife at La Familia was given privileges at Christus in 2008 and in 2010, a midwife and a few OB/ GYNs created Women’s Care Specialists. This became the successful practice recently known for wonderful midwives, a low C-section rate of only 8% compared with the national average of 32% and comprehensive gynecological care.

The health care was excellent and offered with love, support and kindness. Today, with many surrounding clinics and hospitals shutting down their prenatal care, as well as ending labor and delivery services, the need for this level of women’s care has only grown exponentially

Laura Cordova, a patient at Women’s Care Specialists and her husband, Ivan, wrote: “All three of our children were born at Christus St Vincent’s with Trisha Maxon as our midwife. I wanted a birth experience that was natural, caring and with a provider that would spend time answering my many questions. My husband’s focus was on the security of being in a hospital setting. We had the best of both worlds. My first birth with Trisha was so amazing and memorable that we drove from Las Vegas for our second and Portales for our third birth. Trisha was and still is a huge part of our family.”

Christus’ decision to no longer employ the midwives and OB/ GYNs with Women’s Care Specialists saddens us. They have contracted with a third-party company, OBHG, to provide in-hospital delivery services and prenatal care. This is a puzzling decision, as OBHG is usually contracted to help in communities that have a shortage of providers. This is not the case in Santa Fe, where a thriving, successful practice has existed for over a decade.

All of the full-time OB/GYNs and several of the midwives working for Women’s Care Specialists have left. One OB/GYN has joined a private practice in Santa Fe and others have joined Presbyterian who are caring for a small number of pregnant women.

Clinic appointments for prenatal and women’s health care have been significantly reduced. Continuity from the clinic to the hospital for deliveries has been disrupted. This established practice has been replaced with new “shift work” doctors and midwives.

Christus did what it thought was in its best financial interest. However, this decision leaves the community of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico with a gap in women’s health care. It is disturbing that this group of competent health care providers are no longer able to provide comprehensive care to our community. Several of them are still in Santa Fe and very much wanting to offer this care.

Please, women and families of New Mexico, take action! Share this information in a kind and respectful way with family, friends and co-workers. Call your city councilor, state representative or senator, the mayor, the governor, Christus, Presbyterian, Nexus and the Health Department and encourage them to support comprehensive women’s care.