WIHNDHAM, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - Officials at Hartford HealthCare say plans to permanently close the maternity ward at Windham Hospital are justified, and expectant mothers from the Windham area can be served fifteen miles away at the company's Backus Hospital in Norwich, or elsewhere.
Community members say the closure is a setback for local moms, many with low incomes, who can no longer count on being able to deliver their babies at the hospital in their community.
The maternity ward at Windham Hospital closed in 2020. The state's Office of Health Strategy (OHS) would have to approve its permanent closure. OAS heard from both sides during a Zoom hearing on Wednesday.
Opponents say the closure will unfairly send Windham women onto local highways to Norwich or Hartford to have their babies.
"I don't understand how you can expect anybody to travel down 'Suicide Six' (the common local nickname for U.S. Rte. 6 in CT and RI) or up Rte. 32, in labor, to deliver a baby," said Rodney Alexander, an incoming member of the Windham Town Council.
Heather Evans of the Mansfield Human Rights Commission also cited travel as a primary reason for OHS to reject the permanent closure: "Many of these women don't have stable transportation. Additionally, the delay in care as they travel to other hospitals may result in injury or illness to the pregnant woman or her baby."
Hartford HealthCare explains that the birth rate at Windham had fallen to a rate that negatively impacted quality of care. The company says the now-shuttered maternity ward saw just 68 deliveries through May of fiscal 2020--the lowest number at any hospital in the state.
"With this low volume," says Dr. Melisha Cumberland, Chief of Medicine at Windham Hospital, "obstetricians, gynecologists and pediatricians were unable to adequately maintain their skill level to deliver the quality and safe care associated with prenatal, obstetrical and pediatric care."
Windham still provides prenatal and post-partum services.
