North Central Mass Legislative Delegation and Community Advocates to Host Baby Stroller Brigade/Rally on Leominster Town Common to Protest UMass Closure of Birthing Center at Leominster Hospital

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Jul 14, 2023, 09:42 ET

The Demonstration follows the release this week of an alarming DPH report showing a dramatic rise in serious complications from labor & delivery in Massachusetts, which disproportionately impact communities of color, the very communities placed most at risk by this closure, according to health care and community advocates

When: Monday July 17 at 6 p.m.
Where: Leominster Town Common
Gathering at the Corner of Park and West St.

LEOMINSTER, Mass., July 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling all past, present, and future Birthing Center parents, kids, families, and friends, The North Central Massachusetts Legislative Delegation in conjunction with the Community United to Save Our Birthing Center campaign and the Massachusetts Nurses Association is hosting a Baby Stroller Brigade/Rally at the historic Leominster Town Common to demonstrate the Gateway Cities' solidarity and support for preserving local access to maternity services at Leominster Hospital.

The Baby Stroller Brigade event is the latest action organized by a growing coalition of concerned residents, area legislators, caregivers and community advocates who oppose a plan by UMass Memorial Health to close the Birthing Center at Leominster Hospital. It follows a well-attended community forum held on June 29 by the Community United to Save Our Birthing Center coalition where community leaders, residents and advocates spoke passionately about the need to preserve this vital service.

The Leominster Hospital Birthing Center provides an essential service that must be maintained, including labor, delivery, postpartum and nursery care for families living in communities of Northern Worcester County. The loss of this service will jeopardize the health of mothers and newborns in our community, leaving mothers to deliver in overcrowded emergency departments or on the side of highways as they travel to birthing centers in faraway communities.

The demonstration also follows the release of an alarming report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health showing a dramatic increase in the rate of serious complications and maternal child deaths from labor and delivery in our state over the last 10 years. DPH researchers found that rates of severe maternal morbidity climbed from 52.3 per 10,000 deliveries in 2011 to 100.4 per 10,000 deliveries in 2020, an average increase of 8.9 percent each year. It also found that women of color continue to face higher rates of complications, with Black women consistently experiencing the highest rates. Compared to white non-Hispanic women, Black non-Hispanic women experienced 2.3 times higher rates of complications on average during the study period, and Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander women experienced rates 1.2 times higher. This is the very population placed most at risk by the proposed closure of the Birthing Center at Leominster Hospital, the only facility serving the two Gateway Cities of Leominster and Fitchburg.

The period of time covered in the new DPH maternal child health report is the same period when the state saw community hospitals close 10 programs providing maternity care. These were closures that occurred despite the fact that the DPH declared those services essential to preserving the health of those communities. The loss of maternity services creates what the March of Dimes has characterized as "maternity deserts", meaning regions where residents lack appropriate access to needed maternity care, particularly for those serving poorer communities and people of color.

UMass Memorial has provided DPH with the required notice of its intention to close the service as of Sept. 23, 2023. As required by law, the Department of Public Health recently announced that it will conduct a public hearing on the closure to determine if this is an essential service for the communities served by the program. The hearing has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 24 at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel in Leominster.

As part of the campaign, the Community United Coalition has launched a petition drive for community members and supporters to register their support for the Birthing Center, which will be shared with UMass Memorial Health, the Department of Public Health and other officials, urging them to rescind this dangerous plan, and to preserve this vital service. Click here to view the petition: bit.ly/LeominsterMaternity.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association