“Protect Our Patients”
Nurses Fight to Keep Bar Harbor Birth Services
BAR HARBOR—”Maternal healthcare is dying in rural Maine,” Portia Judson, RN, told the protestors gathered at Bar Harbor’s Village Green, May 8. “So many hospitals right now are closing their OB departments. MDI should not be one of them.”
The people with her agreed, exclaiming their support as they rallied on the green and then marched to MDI Hospital to protest the closure of the hospital’s obstetrics department. The protest was organized by the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC).
There, the protestors waited for a report as OB nurses met with hospital administration. The meeting was quick and the nurses walked back to the protestors together.
Erin Oberson, RN in the obstetrics department at MDIH said of the nurses’ discussion with Chrissi Maguire, MDI Hospital CEO, “The report is, to paraphrase, it would be too expensive. We can expect a response from the petition. But . . . she could fundraise for the money, but ‘I wouldn’t like where it came from.’”
The crowd’s response was a chant: “We’ll be back.”
It wasn’t the only chant for the nurses and community members that had gathered.
“Can we do it? Protect our patients?” a woman with a bullhorn asked.
“Yes, we can,” the crowd chanted back.
“Can we do it? Protect our nurses?”
“Yes, we can.”
“Protect our future?”
“Yes, we can.”
The nurses came from Portland.
They came from Fort Kent.
And they came from Mount Desert Island.
All were protesting Mount Desert Island Hospital’s (MDIH) obstetrics (OB) department upcoming closure of its maternity department, a closure that begins July 1 and was announced in March.
“It is a human rights abuse to eliminate” an OB ward and maternity care, Linda Robinson said during her comments on the green. Robinson is a retired nurse midwife and Fulbright grantee.
Robinson and others said that they’d never imagined that the elimination of the unit could happen at the hospital.
Another woman explained that she gave birth at MDI Hospital and because of complications she would have died if she’d had to go to Ellsworth to deliver.
“Who is going to hold these private hospitals accountable for making decisions that will eventually kill people?” asked Oberson. “You cannot expect to end vital services, especially in rural Maine communities, without risking people dying as a result of lack of access to care. We will hold the MDIH administration responsible for these terrible adverse outcomes, and our governor and legislature as well, for failing to protect families and babies when we so clearly have a maternal health care crisis on our hands.”
On May 7, the hospital sent an email to its community encouraging “all community members seeking information or clarification to visit the FAQ page.”
“While the decision to close the Labor and Delivery unit amid declining birth rates is firm, Mount Desert Island Hospital remains dedicated to supporting the health and well-being of the island community and to providing high-quality care across its services,” the email sent by Public Affairs Officer Mariah Cormier read.
The planned Thursday protest in Bar Harbor came the day after the hospital’s email as well as the day after the Wednesday public hearing for Rep. Jan Dodge’s (D-Waldo County) bill LD 1578: An Act to Require the Department of Health and Human Services to Review Disruption to or Removal of Health Care Services. (See related story here). If passed, the bill would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to review any changes in healthcare service delivery (like labor and delivery). It would also allow DHHS to hold a public hearing before changes to those services are made.
“Maine’s hospitals are failing Maine’s people,” said Emily Wright, RN who also works in the MDIH OB department. “In the short span of a few years, so many maternal services departments across Maine have closed, leaving families stranded and without the care they need. This is not a sustainable model of health care. How can you build a community if there is nowhere for people to have babies?”
According to the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC), “This action builds on growing community opposition to the closure of Bar Harbor and surrounding areas’ only OB department – the nearest small OB department is at least a half hour away.”
Three placards held by protestors listed the more than 1,100 people who signed a petition demanding that the hospital not close its OB department.
The hospital has stressed that the closure is because of “a significant decline in births and the challenge of maintaining specialized staff for such low-volume care.”
In 2024, hospital staff delivered 33 babies.
“Critically, with so few births, our nurses and providers cannot maintain the necessary skills and experience required for safe deliveries,” the hospital has stated and reiterated on its facts page. “Patient safety is our top concern and ensuring that our staff can provide the highest level of care means making this difficult decision.”
Others feel that the decision was made without community input or problem-solving efforts.
“MDIH administrators’ decision rips critical health care services from rural, working families in our community,” said Janice Horton, RN, a 32-year veteran of MDIH’s OB department, when the closure was announced on March 27. “This devastating, shortsighted 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 OB closures throughout Maine, including at York Hospital, Northern Maine Medical Hospital, Calais Community Hospital, Downeast Community Hospital, Waldo Hospital, Inland Hospital, and most recently at Houlton Regional Hospital (HRH).
“Our union stands with the dedicated OB nurses at MDIH and condemns this closure in the strongest possible terms,” said Cokie Giles, a Maine RN and president of NNOC. “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.”
The Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA) represents 4,000 nurses and caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. MSNA is a part of National Nurses Organizing Committee/NNU, the largest and fastest-growing union for registered nurses in the United States.
All photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story. There are a lot more photos on our Facebook post, here.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Direct link to view and/or sign the petition
Maternity Services Dwindle: Nine Maine Hospitals Close or Announce Closures in Ten Years
As Birthing Units Close, Where Do Midwives Fit In?
To read the hospital’s original press release.
To read the nurse’s union original press release.
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Ms. Jones: 33 births per year is a little over one every two weeks. I would like you to investigate an allegation that the staff of the OB section refused to be reassigned to other parts of the hospital when there was no need for them in the OB. If this were true, there would be several highly paid medical personnel sitting around on their hands doing nothing while there are other needs in the hospital. They might say that they have to be ready at a moments notice but I'm sure they could be called back quickly if the need arrived. I am not willing to support the nurses if they are not willing to work with the hospital management when there is no need in the OB. I look forward to an article addressing this question.
Cut the ceo pay.