Springfield (Vt.) Hospital's financial troubles continue to affect patient care, and even after layoffs and pay cuts, the hospital may have to close its birthing center in order to cut $6.5 million from its budget, according to VPR News.
The hospital's CEO and CFO resigned in late 2018 in the wake of news that the organization had lost $14 million in two years. Community members expressed concerns about how the birthing center's closure would impact the hospital's rural patient base.
"It's a pretty poor area. There are people who cannot get to appointments 40 miles away," Sharon Glidden, a patient at Springfield Hospital, told VPR News. "And it’s stressful not knowing, being a pregnant person, where you’re going to be able to have your baby. Or whether or not the hospital you’re counting on is going to be able to deliver that baby."
Michael Halstead, the hospital's interim CEO, said he understands community concerns about the potential closure, but must keep the hospital's finances in mind.
"The board is very sensitive to the distance that a woman would have to travel if we did not offer this service in this community," said Mr. Halstead. "And so because of that, you know, we’re going to try to keep it. The challenge that we face here is we can’t have too many services that are losing money before we’re going to have trouble maintaining the entire facility."