PRESS RELEASE: MOUNT DESERT ISLAND HOSPITAL NURSES CONDEMN OBSTETRICS CLOSURE
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND HOSPITAL NURSES CONDEMN OBSTETRICS CLOSURE
BAR HARBOR—Union nurses at Mount Desert Island Hospital (MDIH) are fiercely critical of today’s announcement by CEO Chrissi Maguire that she will close the hospital’s obstetrics (OB) department on July 1, 2025, announced Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC).
“MDIH administrators’ decision rips critical healthcare services from rural working families in our community,” said Janice Horton, RN, who is a 32-year veteran of MDIH’s OB department. “This devastating, short-sighted decision was made by administrators without any input from or dialogue with nurses and caregivers. Nurses are deeply concerned about the permanent, damaging effects this decision will have on families MDIH is supposed to serve in Bar Harbor and surrounding towns and outer islands.”
This closure follows a rash of OB closures in Maine, including at York Hospital, Northern Maine Medical Hospital, Calais Community Hospital, Downeast Community Hospital, Waldo Hospital, and the entirety of Inland Hospital.
“Our union stands with the dedicated OB nurses at MDIH and condemns this closure in the strongest possible terms,” said Cokie Giles, RN and president of the Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA). “This is an abject failure by the hospital’s administration, particularly CEO Chrissi Maguire. For the good of this community and of our state, MDIH’s OB department must remain open.”
MDIH nurses will hold a community meeting on the closure of their hospital’s OB department this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Mount Desert Island YWCA (36 Mt Desert St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609). Community members are encouraged to attend.
I am appalled that in Chrissy’s letter there is no mention of the nurses who will be affected by this decision. They have been managing the department with fierce dedication and loyalty to the families who choose to come to MDIHospital for their obstetrical care. They have served generations of families, pregnant moms who are traveling to the island and moms who need emergent care who chose homebirths. So has the mission of MDIHospital changed to only serving the elderly of the community? It used to be that the purpose of keeping the OB unit open was to support the family practitioners practices who were caring for the entire family-starting with the newborn. I too am deeply saddened and concerned for the welfare of the community and especially the OB nurses!
We are into a whole new era of Bar Harbor residents. When I moved to BH 54 years ago, I set down roots and became part of the community. I birthed and raised my 4 boys here. I worked here and ran a business here. My plan is to live out my remaining days here. Now, people tend to live in a community for a few years and move on. Our neighborhoods don't really exist anymore. The homes are no longer vibrant with year round residents but are instead rental units by absentee owners. The people of childbearing years who do live here don't feel the same affinity to MDIH that us older residents did. The younger women tend to want more advanced technology at their disposal during labor and delivery. Laboring and delivering in Ellsworth or Bangor doesn't feel foreign to them as it would have to most of the Mom's of my babies era. The closure of the MDIH OB unit is a financial decision because the number of births a year won't sustain it. I understand it but am deeply saddened by it.