The only hospital in Manitowoc, Wis., a city of nearly 35,000 — Froedtert Holy Family Memorial Hospital — will stop all obstetrics care beginning June 1, according to Fox 11 News.
The city's population is rapidly aging, with 60 percent of residents over the age of 40, and birth rates have gone down as well, which also factored in the decision, according to Seehafer News.
"The hospital will no longer be able to sustain the volume required to provide safe, high-quality care beyond June 1, at which time the final baby will be delivered in the birth center," Seehafer News reported.
Obstetrics staff will be offered different positions within the health system and it is also working on a care transition plan for women in the region who are in need of continued services.
"This has been a difficult and emotional decision, but one that ensures we are able to provide the best, safest level of care possible to our parents, long term," Tom Veeser, RN, interim president at the hospital, said in a statement.