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Lydia Crafts serves on the MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital Community Board and works as a clinical social worker. She represents several communities in Lincoln County in the Maine House of Representatives. These views are her own.
I joined the MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital Community Board in the fall of 2024, hoping to contribute to improving the state of healthcare in Maine. In my role I knew I would get to see firsthand the dedication and commitment of our healthcare providers at Lincoln Hospital. I also knew that I would face difficult, gut-wrenching decisions, and here we are. The grief in our community at the upcoming closure of labor and delivery services is tangible and the anger and frustration are real.
The clinical group tasked with making a recommendation to the board made a strong argument for closure. Our hospital simply cannot recruit and hire OB doctors willing to take on the intense on-call responsibilities and low number of annual births. The hospital has fought for 10 years to maintain the unit, but ultimately, a chronically understaffed unit threatens the safety of the women and babies it serves.
I listened wholeheartedly to and considered the alternatives. I wanted something better for our community. I attended the community forum and listened as my friends and colleagues shared frightening and difficult birth stories. I read emails, took phone calls, read all of the media coverage, and lay awake night after night for weeks considering my vote.
At the end of the day, I listened to the recommendation of the team of doctors and nurses on the steering committee. These weren’t people from finance or corporate executives; these were the healthcare providers who helped me through lost pregnancies, held my newborn baby, glued one child’s split chin and casted the other’s broken arms. I trust them with the safety of my own family and I trusted their recommendation.
Our nation and state are grappling with the complex reality of a healthcare system in dire need of transformation. Living in rural Maine shows us that on a daily basis. I hope the same energy that has gone into coalition building will stay to fight for a healthcare system that serves all Mainers.
And to the dedicated clinical team at Lincoln Hospital Miles campus, thank you for keeping Lincoln County healthy and well.