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Mad River Community Hospital announced at a staff meeting today that its Trillium Birth Center will be closing its doors after the first week of October, according to several employees.

The closure of Mad River’s labor and delivery unit will leave St. Joseph Hospital as the only birthing center left in Humboldt County. Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna closed is obstetrics program in 2021, citing declining birth volumes and operational challenges, including difficulty hiring and retaining women’s services physicians and support staff. 

“Very bad news for our community,” said one nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, via email. “St Joes will not be able to absorb all the births. Well they will but it is not good.”

The pending closure of Trillium Birth Center fits into a nationwide trend that’s been described as a crisis in rural maternity care, as more than half of rural U.S. hospitals now lack labor and delivery services.

“Experts and other stakeholders said it is difficult for hospitals in rural areas to recruit and retain maternal health providers,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2022, adding that “a higher proportion of rural patients rely on Medicaid, which doesn’t fully cover obstetric services.”

Two sources report that Mad River Community Hospital’s birth center will close on or after October 6. The Outpost has reached out to hospital administration to request more information. We will update this post once we know more.