Dozens of people rallied and marched to MaineHealth headquarters in Portland on Saturday to urge leaders to keep the birthing unit at Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta open.
Leah Hurwitz of Round Pond credits Lincoln Hospital for safely delivering her second child, who was breech. She was supposed to have a planned C-section in Portland, but went into early labor.
“This isn’t just about Lincoln Hospital,” Hurwitz told the crowd. “It’s about whether rural Maine gets to keep being a place where people can safely start their families. Or whether we accept that giving birth safely depends on your ZIP code.”
MaineHealth has said it’s considering the closure because of staffing challenges and low birth rates.
But Tim Goltz, a family physician at Lincoln Hospital, said the labor and delivery department has excellent birth outcomes.
“I am also aware of the literature showing what happens when women need to travel further to deliver their babies,” Goltz said. “To put it bluntly, mothers and babies die, and rates of serious complications increase.”
Gubernatorial candidates Hannah Pingree and Rick Bennett, as well as U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson, were among politicians who joined the group to call on the MaineHealth board to pause its decision on the fate of the birthing unit and work with community members to devise a solution.
The MaineHealth board will vote Thursday.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.