Roseland Community Hospital in southern Chicago is set to suspend obstetric services this weekend. The decision has prompted protests from nurses, health care workers, parents and officials, who fear that reduced access to maternity care will force pregnant women to travel farther and make it harder to get urgent medical help.
At a Wednesday protest outside the hospital at 45 W. 111th Street, participants urged hospital leadership to halt the decision and develop a transition plan. Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller and maternal health advocates stressed that the issue affects the safety of the entire community, not just one facility.
Fewer and Fewer Maternity Units in the Chicago Area
The suspension of services at Roseland Community Hospital is part of a broader pattern of shrinking maternity care in the region. According to the March of Dimes, women in southern Chicago and surrounding suburbs have repeatedly lost access to such services since 2019. If Roseland stops accepting deliveries as announced, it will be another facility to end this part of its operations.
Earlier in October, St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and two other facilities owned by the Prime Healthcare network, located in Chicago and Aurora, also stopped providing obstetric services. Care was consolidated at St. Mary of Nazareth hospital in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood and in Olympia Fields.
Representatives of the network argued that centralization will ensure expectant mothers have access to specialists around the clock, seven days a week. Some health care workers, however, question whether that approach takes into account the needs of women who live far from the facilities that still accept deliveries.
Nurses and Parents Warn of Risks
Protesters pointed to the risks of sudden complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Women may need immediate help in the case of a dangerous spike in blood pressure or if labor begins before they can reach an appropriate hospital.
A maternal health advocate told the protest that last year she gave birth in a truck after being sent home from the emergency department of another hospital. Her experience was cited as an example of the dangers that can arise when access to maternity care is limited.
Doctors also warn that some facilities do not admit patients at an advanced stage of pregnancy. In such a situation, a woman may end up in an emergency department, where the delivery would be handled by staff who have not met her before and have not managed her pregnancy.
Call for a Public Debate on Maternal Care
The protest organizers believe the closing of maternity units does not stem from a lack of demand for such services, but from decisions about how health care is organized and funded. They voiced particular concern about the health of Black mothers and about deepening inequalities in access to treatment.
Cook County commissioners called for a public hearing on the reduction of obstetric services. They want the issue to be discussed more broadly and the needs of pregnant women and families in the southern part of the region to be taken into account in decision-making.
As announced, the suspension of obstetric services at Roseland Community Hospital is to take effect this weekend as planned. Protesters, however, are demanding action that would avoid gaps in access to safe maternity care.
Source: Polski.FM
