PeaceHealth Oregon, the largest health care provider in the region, has announced plans to close its Nurse Midwifery Birth Center in Springfield at the end of August.
The hospital says the annual number of deliveries cannot sustain existing obstetric services at the off-campus facility.
There were 68 births at the Birth Center in 2018. However, 388 babies were delivered by its nurse midwives in the hospital at Riverbend. The center’s closure means 11 nurse midwives will lose their jobs and hospital privileges.
Marcy Marshall is Communications Director for PeaceHealth Oregon.
“The Midwives themselves that are employed through our PeaceHealth Medical Group will be transitioning out,” Marshall says. “But we’ve been working with Women’s Care and they are very interested in looking into potentially building a midwifery program within their organization.”
Marshall says PeaceHealth will be transitioning all deliveries to its Riverbend Medical Center. Under this change, there will be no midwifery services offered through PeaceHealth.
