Supporters of "Keeping Maternity at Tobey" to Hold Friday Morning Rally at Wareham Green

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Oct 31, 2019, 15:44 ET

WAREHAM, Mass., Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Department of Public Health (DPH) continues its review of Southcoast Hospitals Group's proposed closure of the maternity unit at Tobey Hospital, proponents of keeping the unit open will hold a rally on Friday morning, Nov. 1, to draw further public attention to the issue and to grow additional community support.

What: Rally to Keep Maternity Services at Tobey Hospital
When: Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 at 10 a.m.
Where: At the Wareham Green, off Main St. in Wareham
Who: Supporters of keeping maternity services at Tobey, including expectant mothers,
former patients and their children, nurses, and community activists

The rally comes about a week after the DPH held a required public hearing for the purposes of getting first-hand testimony from community members and stakeholders regarding the proposed closure. Held at the Rosebrook Event Center in Wareham on Oct. 23, the hearing was packed with hundreds of attendees — the vast majority of whom who were passionate about keeping the unit open. The hearing garnered significant local media attention and, as a result, has put this issue front-and-center in the minds of local residents, former patients, would-be future patients, and healthcare providers.

DPH now has a limited amount of time to review Southcoast's closure plans, assess the feedback from the public hearing, and to make a decision as to whether or not Tobey's maternity unit provides "essential services" to the local community. The DPH, however, has no legal authority to force the hospital to keep the unit open should it be deemed "essential." Southcoast, which also owns and operates St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, plans to close Tobey's maternity unit on December 31 of this year. Following that closure, Tobey patients requiring maternity care will be directed to St. Luke's Hospital — an 18-mile trek from Tobey. Additionally, Southcoast has made the decision to close this nationally recognized service after posting profits of more than $70 million, a 40 percent increase over the previous year.

Concerned patients and advocates say this decision is misguided and comes with unique risks, especially given that nearly all of the communities that neighbor Tobey are currently without maternity services — primarily because other hospitals have already closed their maternity units, including Morton Hospital in Taunton. This has created what local healthcare advocates are calling a "maternity-care desert for expectant mothers."

Tobey's maternity unit, which is officially known as the Family Centered Unit or the Makepeace Center, is also held in high regard for being part of the "Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative." This initiative emphasizes rooming in, immediate skin-to-skin contact, and supporting a mother's personal feeding choice with education and instruction. Although St. Luke's in New Bedford has the same designation, it is really known for its care of high-risk mothers and babies. Additionally, St. Luke's has been chronically understaffed and would currently struggle to accommodate an influx of new patients from Tobey.

"Losing this unit will rip open the fabric of our local healthcare safety net," said Sharon Miksch, a Tobey RN and chairperson of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) bargaining unit at the hospital. "Losing this unit will rip open the fabric of our local healthcare safety net. There will be a gap in care, and too many people will fall into that gap: mothers, babies, and families. And, in the end, whole communities will suffer because that gap will never be repaired."

The MNA has filed legislation to strengthen the Commonwealth's law related to hospital closures. An Act Relative to the Closing of Hospital Essential Services (S. 672/H. 1139), sponsored by Senator Julian Cyr and Representative Ed Coppinger will:

Extend the official notice period to the DPH in advance of a closure or discontinuation of health services.
Require any hospital proposing closure or discontinuation of health services to provide evidence of having notified and provided the opportunity for comment from affected municipalities before the notification period begins.
Instruct the Attorney General to seek an injunction to maintain the essential services for the duration of the notice period.
Prohibit the hospital from eligibility for an application for licensure or expansion for a period of three years from the date the service is discontinued, or until the essential health service is restored, or until such time as the DPH is satisfied with a modified plan.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association