Lakeside Medical Center will close its baby-delivery unit because of a decline in births in recent years, The Palm Beach Post reported June 21.
The Belle Glade, Fla., hospital will keep its maternity department open with prenatal and midwifery services. It will also have an obstetrician-gynecologist on call for emergency deliveries, according to the report.
"If in maternity care, the volume and the patients are not coming to us, what is it that we can do?" Jennifer Dorcé-Medard, DO, Lakeside's associate chief medical officer, told the publication. "Offering prenatal care is an area that we can definitely help serve the patients, so we can work alongside other higher level of care facilities to deliver healthy babies."
The closure leaves some patients about 30 miles from the closest full-service maternity wards, according to the report.
An official closing date has not been announced, according to the report.