St. Alphonsus Says it Needs Nine Federal Nurses to Keep Baker City Birthing Center
By Joe Hathaway on Tuesday, August 15th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — The battle over the closure of the St. Alphonsus birthing center in Baker City continues.
Oregon Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek recently wrote a letter to St. Al’s CEO, after officials sent a letter to Wyden outlining the struggles the medical system faces in keeping the birthing center open.
Included in the letter was St. Al’s stating that the hospital needed nine federal nurses from the Department of Health and Human Services to operate the birthing center. Baker County Commissioners recently approved the use of $500,000 in federal funding for six nurses.
The birthing center is still set to close August 26. Wyden and other officials have been urging the center to remain open for at least six months.
In response to St. Al’s letter, Wyden, Merkley and Kotek said in part in their response:
St. Alphonsus has been repeatedly asked for answers to the community’s sincere and urgent call to work together on keeping the obstetrics unit open for six additional months. Instead, the
goalposts kept moving and the story kept changing about what St. Alphonsus actually needs to
keep the maternity center open so that safe access to labor and delivery services can be
Maintained.
That is completely unacceptable, and the community deserves better.
Additionally in the letter, they write that they are working with the Department of Health and Human services to secure federal resources to help in the community’s transition to another option for local maternity care.
St. Alphonsus announced the closing of the birthing center in June, slated to close in July. The hospital cited funding, a lack of qualified nurses and declining birth rates in Baker County.
After much local outcry from the public, the hospital extended the closure until the end of August.
In a separate joint statement, Wyden, Merkley and Kotek stated:
Although St. Alphonsus seems resolute in slamming the doors shut on women and families
needing obstetrics care in Baker County, we cannot turn our back on those who will be showing
up to St. Alphonsus needing birthing services on August 27.
The letters from St. Alphonsus to Sen. Wyden, as well as Wyden, Merkely and Kotek’s response can be read below:
Additional reporting on this saga can be found by clicking the links:
