CALAIS, Maine — Community members and city officials are roiling after it was announced earlier this month that the obstetrics department at the Calais Regional Hospital will close early next year.
On May 25, in response to the hospital board of director’s decision to close the department that provides obstetrics, gynaecology and labor and delivery services, the Calais City Council unanimously condemned the decision in a no-confidence vote. A citizens group is also circulating a petition requesting that each board member resign from their post.
So far, the board has not yet responded, Calais City Manager James Porter said Tuesday.
There is already a concern about “ rising [infant] mortality rates in rural Maine, and we’re concerned about that. This [decision] is not going to help,” Porter said.
Not to mention the city’s economic development goal of “trying to attract young families” to the area, Porter said. “This decision sends a negative message to those families.”
Calais resident Gena Maloney, 28, just delivered her first child in November and plans to have more, but she said with the increased inaccessibility of OB services, that decision is more daunting.
“It really does make me feel neglected,” Maloney said Tuesday. “It’s scary to think that we might have to travel an hour to Machias or an hour and a half to Bangor,” especially, she said, “in the case of an emergency.”
31-year-old Caroline Coleman also lives with her family in Calais and recently gave birth at the regional hospital. The OB department closure just serves to further restrict access to women’s healthcare in an already rural location with few options, she said.
“The hardship and safety issues created by having to travel to Bangor or Machias for all those prenatal appointments,” which could be as few as 10-15 appointments, Coleman said, along with the delivery itself, “would definitely weigh heavy on my mind and therefore impact my decision” to have more children.
Porter classified the board’s decision to shutter the department as a continuous “erosion of services” on the part of the regional hospital, which serves between 12,000 and 15,000 patients from Washington County municipalities such as Calais, Baileyville, Eastport, Pembroke and Dennysville.
“There needs to be a public outcry, [and] it needs to happen now,” before it’s too late, Calais Mayor Billy Howard said Tuesday. “We’re at a crossroads where we should be able to save this place.”
The decision is a financial one. At the end of the 2016 fiscal year, the hospital ended in the red, tallying its total losses around $1.3 million according to its annual report.
In a statement following the decision, it was confirmed that the hospital’s delivery rate has dropped in the last decade from more than 100 births each year to just 60 — a decline exacerbated by a shortage of nursing staff that left the facility coping with “heavy financial losses” in the obstetrics department.
A union that represents about 80 nurses at the hospital also has condemned the decision, calling it “dangerous” to force expectant mothers to travel long distances for essential services.
Attempts Tuesday to contact hospital officials for comment were unsuccessful.
With the closure of Calais Regional’s OB unit effective Jan. 1, 2018, area residents in need or pre- or post-natal care will have to drive an hour or more to other hospitals on Route 9 or 191, in areas known for spotty cellphone coverage.
Community members troubled by the decision gathered in downtown Calais Friday, June 2, for a candlelight vigil to try and gather community support in hopes of convincing the board to reverse its decision.
“I think a lot of people think Washington County is the end of the world, and here’s one more thing we’re losing,” said Maloney, who attended the vigil and was escorted off the hospital premises a few weeks ago for protesting the decision. “Here we are trying to build things up again. It kind of makes you lose hope.”
She echoed Porter by pointing out the area is actively trying to attract young people and families to help revitalize the community.
“But if you were a young family and thinking of delivering your own [children], are you really going to want to move here?” Maloney said.