Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital to end obstetrics services

I just want to respond to this by first saying that the volume of our unit is way up from previous year so the statement that our numbers are declining is utter lies. I relize that this is the preception that they would like the public to have. The unit would have top’d out at over 400 deliveries this yaer if we were allowed to continue care. The other point I would like to make is that while it is easy to say 70% go other places to deliver, what they are not saying is how many woman we serve from all ACROSS the region. We have people drive here from Ashland,Dover,Cleveland,Ravenna,Parma,Lorain, ECT because of the care they recieve here. That speaks for itself. Why are these facts being ignored? Because the “Big Brother” who took over wants this to go away quietly and make it look like they had no choice. They had a choice, and made it. It will be devistating,and I’m sure ER will really enjoy doing emergant deliveries in there unit. What a shame, and I hope the public relizes that we nurses do want to serve them but are being held back by money hungry CEOs. CEOs that will go on Vacations to Vegas right when this aweful transition is hitting to avoid having to deal with it.

Comment by OBNURSE — August 19, 2009 @ 8:11 pm

I’ll agree with you OB nurse on those accounts, but I also want to add that what the Suits are also overlooking here is that they have THE model of care happening at this hospital. The care happening in this hospital is what the World Health Organization has recommended should be happening in hospitals and birth centers because it’s what’s best for mom and baby – and it’s lower cost. The numbers at Wadsworth were on the rise with nothing more than word-of-mouth advertising. What would have happened if WRH BOD put their money where their mouth was and used grant money appropriately to make the only freestanding birth center in the area? What truly is sad is that true evidence-based care doesn’t bring in the number of dollars that staff-centered maternity care does. Hospitals are starting to rely on the money brought in by 30% plus cesarean rates. Who is the loser in all that? The families. The staff doesn’t have to go home with that new mother and newborn while she tries to recover from major abdominal surgery and learn how to breastfeed. One size fits all maternity care doesn’t work for everyone, and families deserve to have choices and more input in the decision-making process. The kind of care happening at WRH is the kind of care that reduces costs….not costs more. Someone needs to take their accountant out and shake his pockets.

What they also are failing to mention is the fact that the other neighboring hospitals aren’t doing significantly more births than Wadsworth. In fact, at least one of those two has seen significant decreases in their numbers. So how long will it be before the administration is shuttering up those maternity centers? Will everyone have no choice but to go to large, impersonal hospitals where the nurse:patient ratio is high enough that interventions not proven to improve outcomes for low-risk moms and babies are used routinely, resulting in even higher rates of cesareans? Will women have to get in their cars and drive a longer distance in labor not to a center where they know they are getting superior care but to someplace where they will become part of assembly-line care? Knit hats and blankets and a pretty room do not make personalized care.

Shame on you Summa for pandering to the bottom line.

Comment by neomama — August 20, 2009 @ 4:31 pm

OBnurse: Your numbers are up to 400 per year. That is just over one baby a day. It does not seem to make financial or operational sense that a unit should be staffed and operate for 1.1 baby a day especially with Barberton City being so close.

Comment by JOe Public — August 24, 2009 @ 10:15 am

JOe Public:
Barberton does see more deliveries then we do, but I would have you know that while our numbers have been growing every year for the past 4 years, Barbertons are on the decline. But they are the ob we are keeping around? And I would also like to say, when was the last time you told a parent that they only had 1/4 of a baby, not a whole one? We have not one room empty at this present moment in time and people are lining up just to get a room right now! Just because there are fluctuations( Which every unit sees) does not mean we should shut down a unit that is giving hundreds of families the experience and birth they were hoping for. Financially and Operationally; those are big words…But if you want to use them, that is fine. If you would like to have your child at a factory type setting where “Financially and Operationally” they are making it happen go for it. But not everyone has such a birth experience in mind, and should not have to be forced into it like women will be now.

Comment by OBNURSE — August 25, 2009 @ 11:57 pm

As the happy mother of 7…the seventh whom was born at Wadsworth last year…I am greatly saddened by the closing of the OB unit. As a former OB nurse myself, as well as having experienced natural birth 7 times, I have to say that the birth of our seventh at Wadsworth with a midwife was par-none in the level of care we received. We drove from Ashland to receive that quality care and had planned to have other children there as well if we were so blessed. Too bad the men in the suits who make these poor decisions based on their wallets do not experience a couple of labors and deliveries themselves. Only then would they really be able to make wise decisions in the care of the women they serve. Shameful and sad. Oh, btw, once an Ob nurse, always an OB nurse! Cross-training will not go over well.

Comment by Mother of 7 — October 20, 2009 @ 5:10 pm

when i was 20 i had my first son at st thomas hospital and was so upset with my lack of care there then 16 years later i go to wadsworth rittman hospital and wow what a diffrence it was like having my family all around me the best experience i could have hoped for it was another c-section deliverd by dr.demund and at the age of 36 it was perfect and we were blessed.so it just seemed natural when i was in florida and found out we were expecting again and with a high risk pregnancy this time we choose to come back to ohio to dr. demund and of course wadsworth hospital to our dismay we got here this last december and found out that they closed the unit down!!!!!! what a kick in the head……why would they take something so wonderful away from the community? it makes me wonder…..what will the find unimportant next!!!!!! not the almighty dollar thats for sure….just the people and their need.

Comment by sandra priester — February 17, 2010 @ 9:11 am