Thanks to the powerful voices of our community members,elected officials are responding to our insistence that we must continue to have a community Birth Center. As a result of our participation in Board of Commissioners’ public comment meetings, the Board convened a work session on July 31 to discuss and begin the necessary work to solve the challenges presented by PeaceHealth's abrupt decision to close the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.
At the work session, stakeholders were invited to discuss ways to ensure that Lane County families have continued access to integrated Birth Center care. The invitees were Lane County Health & Human Services, PeaceHealth, the Oregon Health Authority, the governor's office, and Lane County Friends of the Birth Center. The Friends took a strong stance in the meeting, arguing that closing the Birth Center will create a gap in prenatal and maternity care that is harmful to our community, and that PeaceHealth's actions limit birth choice.
PeaceHealth declined to attend the meeting. This is consistent with its ongoing refusal to engage with the community it purports to serve. PeaceHealth's refusal to work alongside other stakeholders toward solutions is revealing: PeaceHealth does not believe that it is accountable to the officials we have elected to represent our interests. PeaceHealth rejected an opportunity to engage in a process of problem-solving that could have resulted in a productive solution to the gap in care that our community is facing. Instead, PeaceHealth refused to answer for its actions, and left the other stakeholders in this fight to do the work of solving the problem.
We were very well-received by our Board of Commissioners. Every commissioner agrees with Friends of the Birth Center that integrated midwifery care is an asset to our community, and understands that it is a low-cost, high-touch model of care that contributes to best outcomes for mothers and babies. The Friends of the Birth Center feels gratified that throughout this process we have been able to educate our elected officials and community members about the benefits of Birth Center care.
Together, stakeholders explored a variety of ways that we can both ensure Birth Center care in Lane County and mitigate the immediate effects of the Birth Center's closure. While Commissioner Bozievich cautioned that it would be a mistake for the Board of Commissioners to offer false hope, the other four commissioners inquired about how the County might be able to help our community accomplish our goal of continuing access to a free-standing birth center in Lane County
One potential outcome we explored is that PeaceHealth lease the Birth Center building to a group of midwives and nurses who are actively making plans for a new autonomous freestanding Birth Center. We also discussed how the Board of Commissioners can assist in lobbying our state congressional delegation to enact a bill that requires birth center care to be reimbursed at a rate that fairly covers the cost of the services. The passage of this bill would ensure the financial stability of Birth Center care.
In terms of the more immediate needs of our community, Karen Gaffney, head of Health & Human Services, asserted that the Community Health Clinics, which are currently staffed by PeaceHealth midwives, will continue to provide care and has capacity for more patients. (Though Friends of the Birth Center believes this is a precarious solution, as PeaceHealth has shown its willingness to renege on its commitments to patients). The Commissioners' clear request was that we provide them with specific directives about what they can do to ensure that Birth Center care remains available in Lane County.
So…Friends of the Birth Center are currently hard at work on developing these directives! Supporters please feel free to share your ideas and thoughts with us via comment to this blog post We will continue to engage our elected officials, on the County Commission, and at the state and federal levels. The Democratic Party of Lane County has adopted a resolution to support our cause, and will be a powerful ally in communicating our concerns to our senators and representatives.
We aim to make insurance providers fairly reimburse in our state in the future, and we are also finding ways to support and advocate for those members of our community who are currently pregnant and will lose their midwifery care in the midst of the Birth Center's closure.
Friends of the Birth Center’s mission remains the same and we will continue our efforts to ensure the existence of a freestanding accredited birth center in Lane County, and share the voice of consumers affected by the Birth Center closure. .
Please contact us if you want to be part of this problem-solving process!: lanecofbc@gmail.com
You can watch the webcast of the July 31 Board of Commissioners' work session here: https://lanecounty.org/how_do_i/view/webcasts
Media Coverage can be found here:
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