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00000178-73c0-ddab-a97a-7bf830af0000From debate over childhood vaccinations to the changing business of hospital finance, IPR has the stories of hospitals and public health that affect northern Michigan.

Manistee hospital to close maternity unit

BRIDGE MAGAZINE/MICHIGAN HEALTH & HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION

The hospital in Manistee will close their maternity unit on May 31. In a statement, the CEO of Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital James Barker says providing maternity services is a challenge for rural hospitals.

“The decision to close the [maternity] unit in Manistee was made after much deliberation,” Barker said. “Our goal is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the hospital while ensuring excellent, safe care for all patients.”

Patients in Manistee can still receive some prenatal and postnatal care at the hospital, but they can't give birth there. The hospital is directing those patients to the Munson Hospital in Cadillac, nearly an hour away.

The number of births at the hospital in Manistee has decreased and that has coincided with the area's aging population.

Ted Roelofs, a reporter for Bridge Magazine, says hospitals in rural areas can struggle to have a full range of services.

“They have to make a choice: can we continue to offer obstetrics care, or do we have to limit ourselves to primary functions that people in our area expect us to do,” Roelofs says.

He says the lack of maternal care can put a mother and child at risk.

A report from Bridge Magazine found that the number of birthing centers in northern Michigan has been declining over the past four decades.

 

Max came to IPR in 2017 as an environmental intern. In 2018, he returned to the station as a reporter and quickly took on leadership roles as Interim News Director and eventually Assignment Editor. Before joining IPR, Max worked as a news director and reporter at Michigan State University's student radio station WDBM. In 2018, he reported on a Title IX dispute with MSU in his story "Prompt, Thorough and Impartial." His work has also been heard on Michigan Radio, WDBM and WKAR in East Lansing and NPR.