Redwood Memorial Hospital to Stop Childbirth Services Move Them to St. Joseph’s In Eureka
Press release from Providence St. Joseph:
As a result of declining birth volumes across Humboldt County, especially in the Eel River Valley, and the county-wide loss of women’s services physicians, Redwood Memorial Hospital (RMH) plans to close its obstetrics program on July 1, 2021. Childbirth services will be transitioned to the obstetrics program at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka (SJE), incorporating the staff and the legacy of both programs to create a single, high-quality childbirth center, supported by a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
“Operationally, it’s been very challenging to support both programs. The decision to transition services was not taken lightly and we know this is nobody’s preference,” said Roberta Luskin-Hawk, M.D. chief executive for Providence in Humboldt County. “However, this is a trend that is happening across the country in rural communities. By focusing services at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, we will be able to recruit additional physicians, enhance the hospital as a robust regional medical center, build upon an award-winning program and develop a service line which will be recognized as a center of excellence, while supporting the important role of Redwood Memorial Hospital as a Critical Access Hospital.”
In 2013, the question of the sustainability of obstetrics care at RMH was evaluated and the community partnered with St. Joseph Health (now Providence) to recruit a physician with training in obstetrics and gynecology. Despite that effort and the addition of family physicians with obstetric privileges to Open Door Community Health Centers, the community once again faces challenges with the loss of women’s services physicians and support staff across Humboldt County and the gradual decline of deliveries. Consolidation will further address provider shortage in the county and allow resources to be better allocated at RMH.
Additionally, in a post-COVID world, some pre-natal care can now be delivered closer to home by virtual means. Consolidating programs will further ensure top-tier obstetric and gynecological providers will be on hand to support moms and babies.
RMH caregivers affected by the transition will be offered comparable positions within the obstetrics program at SJE. No layoffs are anticipated related to the consolidation.
“Redwood Memorial Hospital will continue to be a special place and a vital component of Providence’s care delivery network in Humboldt County,” said Dennis Leonardi, Ferndale resident and Chairman of the Community Board for Providence in Humboldt County. “The new acute inpatient rehab unit project at Redwood is just one example of the commitment local hospital leadership has made and will continue to make in the Eel River Valley.”
Plans have been developed to renovate and remodel the existing obstetrics unit at SJE. The redesigned unit will promote a nurturing environment with the latest technologies which will provide an enhanced birth experience for mothers and their babies. Construction will be completed this summer.
“Consistent with our Mission, our goal will always be to focus on the dignity of our patients and the quality and scope of services the Humboldt County community needs, while remaining good stewards of our resources,” said Luskin-Hawk, MD.
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Time to bring back the midwife.
Agreed. Relying on religious hospitals for Ob/Gyn services is never going to be good solution.
They have been trying to shut this down for years… I worked there in 2013 and they were talking about it then.
Having OB standing by costs serious money, and too many of the births are patients on Medi-Cal and Partnership. They don’t make enough money to profit from births or from Women’s Health in general…
This is one more example of how Corporate Health Care is failing us, every day.
They don’t care, at St Joseph’s, it’s understaffed, unsafe, and going down the tubes, but Dr Luskin-Hawk is paid over $800,000/year to assure that services don’t cost more than revenues… And then lie about the motivations…
They tell you that they are in the business to serve the community, but nothing could be less true.
All they care about, is money.
Obviously bad for women’s health and a shame. The health of mothers and children would be good and logical places to spend money, both because it is the right thing to do and because it would save money in the end.
That’s why amazon is crushing the competition
Agree 100% home birth should be covered by health insurance and Medi Cal
It’s obviously WAY CHEAPER to have home births.
How long has our civilization been doing home births?
The midwives are being systematically mainstreamed or eliminated as a choice, by an onerous weight of risks and liabilities. People sue for births that go badly, so now finding an MD willing to back them (insurance,) and legitimize any requests for medical intervention like ultrasounds, or hospital transfer or emergency C-section is getting harder and harder. Less birthing facilities will not help midwives, or anyone pursuing a widwife-assisted home birth .
I don’t really like the idea of moving the birth center to Eureka at all. There may be times when women come in with birth problems that need to been attended to immediately. Some may not survive the transport to Eureka. To be blunt, a real STUPID MOVE!!!!!
St. Jos hates Redwood Memorial and has tried multiple times to cash out Redwood. This is another example. How about all the southern Humboldt potential births? They’ll have to drive an additional 20 miles Eureka rather than Fortuna’s Redwood. How many births will happen driving those extra 20 miles???
St. Jos just got CARE $24 million dollars ,and they’re STILL bitching about the dollars lost at Redwood??? You people are crazy and insane and deserve to be called on your greedy moves!!
Three generations of births for my family at RMH..
Very sad day..
There are some amazing local doula/midwives in training. Best get to know them now before they are too busy
Is the women’s center also closing? Or will they just have you go to eureka for the birth? Sucks for those of us who live in SoHum. Had my daughter there and it was a 50 minute drive for me just to fortuna.
When I first arrived in Humboldt (1970) babies were still being born at the hospital in Garberville. It is a crying shame that normal births require at least an hour drive (for country people 2 hours or more) to a hostile hospital where one cannot get one’s tubes tied immediately after giving birth which is a normal practice in civilized places. A hospital governed by primitive religious beliefs & greed has no place in the modern world.
“Primitive religious beliefs and greed.”
Do you understand the difference between an employer and and employee?
Greedy people invest in business that return a PROFIT, we’re lucky if it’s good for the community as well.
Xebeche, “crying shame”. Good one.
I thought the thumbnail was a blurry spider or a planet lmao
Providing actual numbers on births would really help.
I think it’s ridiculous that there will only be childbirth services in eureka and Ukiah.. nothing in between… that’s a long drive for all the people who live in the middle!!
Nothing is stopping you from opening your own hospital to run as you see fit.
Then again, nothing is stopping the sisters of Orange from running their hospitals as they see fit.
Much to the chagrin of some folks.
Be thankful there are some medical services available in rural areas.
St. Joseph’s is at least better than Mad River Hospital. It’s nickname: Murder River Hospital, is because of its dreadful record.
I would never trust the staff at Saint Jokes.
If I was to open a hospital would I be heavily subsidized by taxpayers for not providing any actual service? And somehow I bet there is a absolute shitton of things stopping you from opening a hospital, mainly it infringing upon a monopoly
Garberville once had a modern delivery room and a nursery with view windows. Both were heated and air-conditioned with 100% outside air filtered with hepa filters. I was the refrigeration contractor that made sure those babies were kept at the perfect temperature.
My daughter was born there. She was not at all what the babies look like on T.V…. But, she soon turned into a beautiful baby and in her teenage years I had a terrible time keeping the boys off our porch.
Garberville also once had a jail, a court house, a veteran’s center, fifty sawmills, a furniture store, three soda fountains, parking meters, a drive-in theater, an air-conditioned theater, a bowling alley, thirty or forty airplanes at the airport, two drugstores, clean people…. I could go on.
It’s almost as if the political leadership of the country has been systematically dismantling the economy and shipping it overseas.
I remember when Rio Dell and Fortjna were nice places with stores to shop for anything. No more. Thanks to weed and California as well as Humboldt County mismanagement it is the shit hole you see before you today. I really miss what it once was and it depresses me to see what it is today
Insurance companies and the federal government ruined healthcare, over 20 years ago… Of course, there was rampant fraud, in health care billing, too… Still is!
Garberville, on the other hand, is the same as small towns everywhere!
My parents moved to Yuba City, in 1956. There was a thriving economy, lots of small businesses, a vibrant downtown in Yuba City and Marysville, a wonderful farming area. About 6000 people lived in Yuba City, at the time. There was a good sized hospital, birthing 60-75 babies/month, and a large group of private physicians.
Now there are 100,000 people, a critical housing shortage, homeless persons everywhere, the hospital was closed 10 years ago, most of the private practice docs were put out of business in 2000 by changes in the rates the payers paid, and, the businesses are all shoestring operations. The downtown areas are run down and sketchy, the good stores are all gone leaving big box operations only. A large number of the citizens commute to Sacramento or Chico, and home prices have shot up 25% in two years.
So yes, Ernie, it’s not the same as it used to be, and nobody has a solution. SHCHD could have been the answer, but the pot-farm/gold rush mentality, and the chronic apathy of SoHum residents plus the huge gap between the haves and have-nots, has resulted in the limited services available at SHCHD… Use the federal clinics, Redwood and Open-Door, if you can!
My advice, also: use the available local midwives, as they are pretty great, and, if you need help, show up at the ER, wherever you are.
Having a kid is not supposed to be an unnatural act, and, having babies in hospitals is a leftover from the baby-boom, when women just accepted the idea that they needed a man (OBGYN) to do anything at all!
If you want a doctor-attended birth, good luck finding one! Travel South and see an OBGYN in Santa Rosa, and look around at other areas! Having children in Humboldt/Trinity/Mendo requires some thought! There are options!
St Joseph’s hates women, and don’t EVEN try to get an abortion in Humboldt! Remember, the religious nuts control SHCHD too!
Namaste, Ernie!
I don’t think St Jo’s likes womxn either. Didn’t they refuse to perform a hysterectomy for some dude a couple of years ago?
You had a vary different experience than I had.
I’ve been in both and Mad River was a much better place.
I agree with you that Mad River is better. I had a great natural birth experience and the food was actually good.
I do not trust the staff at Saint Joseph.
Both hospitals are shady, and understaffed. They are both unsafe, and treat their employees like slaves…
Salaries have gone up a little, but living in Northern Humboldt is for crazy people only. Litigious folks have increased costs for everyone, and the profits in OB suites, are gone. OH and few people in Humboldt have decent insurance, or can afford the costs of birthing.
They are not enslaved people. They are getting paid. I literally cannot stand wyt pipo who equate their workplace with slavery.
Unfortunately, more babies will be born in cars on their way to the hospital. (As if we don’t already have enough babies delivered on the way to RedwoodMH) One more half-hour is unacceptable to a mom in distress, in labor… Dr. Anderson and Redwood Women’s Health Center is the best thing that ever happened to Fortuna. Thank you Dr. Anderson, and daughter, for you always stood for the rights of the women in the Eel River Valley.
Have you ever tried talking to the staff at St Joseph’s. If you ask questions they have no answers. If you are looking for someone they have no clue. Their volunteers are usually nice, but even more ignorant than the staff. Usually security knows more than anyone else. Administration is full of excuses, but mostly BS.
Compare that to Redwood Memorial. The staff are approachable, knowledgeable and answer questions accurately. Above all they are more friendly.
Hospitals’ electricity seldom go out for very long what with generators and priority from the grid.
Now might be a good time to suggest investing in, and learning to use, a generator if you plan to home birth.
The powers that be claim a decrease in births at RMH. They made sure to get those numbers down before they made this announcement. They lost the only OB/Gyn they had left in their medical group who saw patients and delivered them at RMH, and instead had an OB seeing patients and planning all their deliveries in Eureka. This means the only deliveries planning to be at RMH were the family practice/OB patients and the patients who presented there in labor. As they funneled the patients to Eureka they simultaneously stopped supporting the department in Fortuna leaving the department understaffed and struggling for resources despite RMH being a profitable hospital. The situation they claim to be happening is fabricated. This organization has been trying to close OB there for many years and only direct prohibition of closing the department from THE STATE HAD PREVENTED IT. July 1 is the first day of the lifted ban and they will promptly close this department if we let them. The community has not yet spoken. We should be demanding the healthcare we need in Fortuna. We should be fighting to keep the small hospital well and not fold to the corporate financial motivations. This organization does not give a darn if you deliver a baby in your car, it makes no difference to their bottom line. They do not care if you prefer the small hospital that feels like home. They don’t care about you at all.