As OhioHealth prepares to close Delaware County’s only maternity unit, Delaware City Council took action requesting the regional health system halt the unit’s closure and called on the Ohio Attorney General to enforce a 2005 agreement requiring the hospital to keep core services.
Nurses and patients from Delaware’s OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital packed the City Council meeting on June 22, expressing their concern over OhioHealth’s decision to close the maternity unit in fast-growing Delaware County, effective July 31.
OhioHealth announced earlier this month that it’s closing the maternity unit because of declining births at the hospital. The regional hospital system said fewer than 10% of babies born in the OhioHealth system to families living in Delaware County were delivered at Grady Memorial in the last fiscal year. Instead, many Delaware County families are already choosing OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital and OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital – both in Franklin County – for their delivery care.
Nurses and patients said Delaware County is a rapidly growing community with young families, and it needs maternity services close to home. Emergencies can’t wait for the 30-40 minutes it will take to get to a Franklin County hospital.
“Babies don’t arrive on a convenient schedule, labor doesn’t wait for traffic, and complications don’t wait until a mother reaches another hospital,” said Angel Smith, a nurse at Grady Memorial. “When maternity services disappear, the burden falls on the families. It falls on the families with limited transportation and financial strain. It falls on the mothers who suddenly have to drive farther for appointments, testing, care. And that’s what scares me.”
Even with the maternity unit closing, other essential services will remain in Delaware County as patients can continue to receive prenatal, postnatal, and gynecologic care from OhioHealth Physician Group Obstetrics and Gynecology in Delaware, Lewis Center and Jerome, the hospital system said when announcing the unit’s closure.
In an emergency, OhioHealth said Grady Memorial’s emergency department teams are fully equipped, trained and prepared to safely support and deliver babies for any patient who arrives in labor or requires an emergency delivery.
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In response to public comments at the packed meeting, City Council members amended their agenda to add a resolution brought forward by Council Member Linsey Griffith to express concern to OhioHealth about its decision and affirming the city’s duty to protect public safety.
The resolution, which was approved by a 6-0 vote, requests OhioHealth halt the planned closure and calls on the Ohio Attorney General’s office to enforce a 2005 affiliation agreement that was signed when OhioHealth took full control of Grady Memorial. The agreement required OhioHealth to maintain the current lines of services and recognized obstetrics as a core service, according to the council resolution.
Council members went back and forth about whether they should take action now or first try to engage with OhioHealth officials.
Griffith said OhioHealth has already cut some services at Grady Memorial, including breast cancer treatment and its cardiac catheterization laboratory, and more service cuts are planned, including radiation oncology. All were part of the affiliation agreement, she said.
“I think the writing is on the wall,” Griffith said. “I think if we don’t take a stand now, there will not be a Grady to stand for in two years.”
Vice Mayor Catlin Frazier said she supported the resolution and reaching out to the Attorney General’s Office. However, she noted that the AG’s office can act in whatever timeframe they see fit, and that may not be before the planned closure on July 31.
Delaware County and eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at mdevito@dispatch.com and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Delaware council urges OhioHealth to halt closure of maternity unit
Reporting by Maria DeVito, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Maria DeVito, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
