DPH Deems Birthing Center at Holyoke Medical Center 'Necessary for Preserving Access and Health,' Community Coalition Plans August 20 Standout

HOLYOKE, Mass., Aug. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of community members and birthing access advocates will hold a standout on August 20 demanding reproductive justice following the state Department of Public Health's determination that the birthing center at Holyoke Medical Center is "necessary for preserving access and health."

After years of reducing bilingual access to birthing care, Holyoke Medical Center announced plans earlier this year to close its 13-bed Obstetrics Service and 10-bassinet Well Infant Nursery effective October 1. DPH officials announced their decision following a public hearing last month featuring testimony from many of those who will be negatively impacted by the closure. DPH gave the hospital 15 calendar days from August 12 to fulfill the state requirement that it "prepare a plan that details how access to inpatient maternity beds and bassinets will be maintained for the residents of the service area."

Stand Out for Birthing Access and Reproductive Justice
When: Thursday, Aug. 20 from 3 to 4 p.m.
Where: At the intersection of Beech and Northampton (Route 5) streets (near Crosier Field).
What: Signs will be provided, and social distancing and masking will be in effect.
Who: The Coalition for Birthing Care Access was formed, in partnership with the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Jobs with Justice, to advocate for a Holyoke Medical Center that puts patients over profits. Our Western Massachusetts communities deserve fair and equitable access to all medical care, and, in this pivotal moment, it is imperative that we come together to advocate for racial justice, healthcare equity and a Holyoke Medical Center that serves the community. Learn more at www.facebook.com/CoalitionforBirthingCareAccess.

In the last several years, Holyoke Medical Center administrators eliminated bilingual midwifery care services at the hospital's Birthing Center - midwifery care that dramatically improved outcomes for mothers and their newborns - including infant mortality - over the last 35 years. Now, HMC executives plan to shutter the Birthing Center altogether, eliminating a vital service to birthing families in Holyoke and surrounding communities.

"Long before I became pregnant, I knew I wanted to give birth with the midwives of HMC. I wanted to have my baby with all the safety of medical training and all the caring that community support could provide. My son's birth was not easy, none are, but from the other side I know that my team gave me all the help I needed," says Holyoke resident Rachael Ingraham. "It pains me that if I have another child it won't be with that amazing team. From the nurses, to the midwives, the lactation consultant, the cleaning staff, receptionists, and food services, it was clear that everyone took patient care and safety seriously, but that it was also a labor of love."

Holyoke resident and parent Sasha Jimenez responded to the anticipated closure of the Birthing Center by saying, "We can't let things like this continue to happen in our community. I'm not going to let decisions be made about how and where we give birth without our voices being heard."

The Birth Center at HMC improved birthing outcomes for parents and newborns; it provided bilingual, culturally competent midwifery care to generations of families in and around Holyoke; it promised a safe place to give birth in Holyoke. In eliminating the Birthing Center, HMC is turning its back on the community it claims to serve, consciously harming people of color, and putting the care and safety of birthing families in danger as they're forced to seek care outside of Holyoke.

As a part of her testimony for the Department of Public Health Hearing on this matter, Nina Kleinberg MSN, CNM (ret.), a former midwife at the birthing center provided this important history of why the birthing center was created

"In the early 1980s, Holyoke had one of the highest infant mortality rates in Massachusetts," Kleinberg said. "The Department of Public Health set up the Infant Mortality Task Force to address this serious health concern. The Task Force made several recommendations to address this problem...[including] the founding of a bilingual nurse-midwifery practice with an office in downtown Holyoke. This finding was based on many studies that showed that nurse-midwives could have a positive impact on the health care outcomes of women of childbearing age, especially in socioeconomically-challenged communities."

The purpose of the standout is to increase community awareness of this threat to reproductive health and to raise the following concerns:

    --  Without the Birthing Center, Holyoke will have no community access to
        bilingual, culturally attuned reproductive and midwifery care.
    --  The Board of Directors at HMC are not members of our community or
        reflective of our racial and ethnic diversity, yet the Board is making
        decisions about what healthcare services we deserve.
    --  Holyoke Medical Center CEO Spiros Hatiras and the Board of Directors are
        not committed to the predominantly Latina/o/x community it is supposed
        to serve.

Member of the Coalition for Birth Care Access and Western Massachusetts Organizer for Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, Alicia Fleming, said in encouragement of her community showing up to Thursday's stand-out, "We can't let history repeat itself and go back to the infant mortality rates communities of color experienced before I was born in the 1980s. There is no denying the systemic racism that is present in the impending closure of the Birthing Center. This is our opportunity to build upon the progress made by the generations before us and to fight for reproductive justice."

Members of the public can find more information at www.facebook.com/CoalitionforBirthingCareAccess.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association