Roseland Community Hospital, a safety-net hospital on the South Side of Chicago, is shutting down its labor and delivery unit on Saturday night, leaving a massive gap in care for pregnant women in the community.
Longtime physicians worry about what it will mean for expectant mothers and their babies.
Dr. Joy West has likely delivered her last baby as chair of the OBGYN department at Roseland Community Hospital, where she's worked for more than two decades
"It's a huge loss for the community. It's a personal loss to all of us. We're devastated. We did not see this coming," she said.
Saturday night, the labor and delivery unit will close. When the hospital announced earlier this month that the unit would be shut down, officials cited declining birth rates and financial constraints. The hospital's CEO said fewer than 50 babies were on track to be delivered there by the end of the year.
"It means another maternal healthcare desert in the city of Chicago. It means moms feel like they're not being prioritized," West said.
The South and Midwest regions of the U.S. have the greatest proportion of counties designated as maternity care deserts, meaning there's no obstetric clinicians or birthing facilities, according to March of Dimes.
Prime Healthcare also recently ended obstetrics services at three Chicago area hospitals: St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, and Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago's Norwood Park neighborhood.
"I'm fearful that the persistently elevated rate of moms – Black and Brown moms, mainly – dying in childbirth will continue to elevate," West said.
After Saturday, expectant mothers who come into the Roseland emergency room with complications will be transferred to other hospitals. The closest labor and delivery unit is four miles away, or a 20-minute drive, at Advocate Trinity Hospital, which is also closing its obstetrics unit next year.
"The moms in this community deserve the same level of care as any mom in the Gold Coast or any place in the world," West said.
Some doctors and nurses in the OBGYN department at Roseland will find jobs at other hospitals or new roles here at Roseland, while some will retire.
