There’s frustration among those looking to restore maternity services at Windham Hospital. They’re hoping to pressure the hospital and the state to finally act.
But as the fight stretches into years, women are forced in the meantime to potentially drive further to give birth.
Members of Windham United to Save our Healthcare Coalition held a vigil at the State Capitol.
“It’s terrible what’s happening in our community,” Lynne Ide, an advocate, said.
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They called for Windham Community Memorial Hospital to restore its labor and delivery services.
Community members argue the closure leaves women driving longer distances to reach other hospitals to give birth.
“It’s dangerous to do it the way Hartford Health is doing it and they are doing it without any consideration for the people who are in Windham and Windham area, all low income,” Rep. Susan Johnson, D – Windham, said.
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Advocates say it’s now been three years since the hospital stopped the services and filed its plan with the state to permanently shutter the maternity department.
Last year, the state Office of Health Strategy proposed to deny the shutdown.
“We have an empty cradle here tonight. This symbolizes the way the hospital is looking at our community. They are just leaving us high and dry with an empty cradle,” Ide said.
The hospital argues there had been trouble keeping proper staffing with fewer babies being delivered there. It challenged the state’s decision and a hearing was held in November of last year.
“The agency is asking the hospital to operate a program that it knows not to be safe, and in doing so to jeopardize the health and safety of mothers and babies in the Windham community,” Jennifer Fusco, an attorney for Windham Hospital, said during the 2022 hearing.
We reached out the hospital for a statement and received one after the story aired.
In it, Hartford HealthCare, the parent organization of Windham Hospital, said, “The hospital remains committed to providing the safest birthing option for the community: offering high-quality, coordinated care for mothers and their babies at a hospital of the mother’s choice. Windham Hospital has also enhanced pre- and post-partum care services that help ensure the best possible outcomes.”
It adds the hospital has helped coordinate more than 260 deliveries of newborns in the past three years, most of which took place at Backus Hospital in Norwich.
NBC Connecticut also reached out to the Health Strategy office for an update on the proceedings but we have not yet heard back.
