NEENAH (NBC 26) — Waupaca community members protested against ThedaCare's decision to close the Waupaca Labor and Delivery Unit, as ThedaCare administration explains the closure.
- Waupaca community members protested at ThedaCare headquarters in Neenah
- ThedaCare spoke on camera to media for the first time since announcing the closure of the Waupaca labor unit last fall.
- ThedaCare says community push back will not reverse the decision.
"It's definitely been a stressful process since the beginning,” Cindya Gullickson, a pregnant mother in Waupaca, said at the protest.
Gullickson had planned to give birth this March at ThedaCare Waupaca.
“It's crazy to think they can just take away a resource like that,” she said Friday.
She protested outside ThedaCare Headquarters in Neenah with members of the Save Waupaca Labor and Delivery Facebook group.
"We're not going away, it's freezing out here now and we're still out here standing here,” Chris Appleby, a Waupaca resident at the protest, said on Friday.
During the protest, ThedaCare spoke on camera for the first time since announcing the closure of the Waupaca labor unit.
Vice president of critical access hospitals Kellie Diedrick said one of the biggest reasons for the closure is a shortage of OB GYN specialists and physicians.
She did not have details on staffing vacancies at the Waupaca labor unit.
"There's a national shortage, and there is a shortage in particular for those that have specialty like obstetrics, let alone the ability to want to come and work in a rural community," she said.
Diedrick said ThedaCare has data showing more Waupaca mothers choose to give birth at larger ThedaCare hospitals, like Neenah or Appleton, than those who choose to give birth in Waupaca.
ThedaCare did not provide the data they used for the decision.
Diedrick said because mothers are already choosing other hospitals, the closure will not create a healthcare desert.
“Effectively, a lot of the literature would support that this is not creating a vacancy,” she said.
At the Dec. 3 city council meeting, Waupaca City Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution asking ThedaCare to reconsider its decision.
“Full disclosure, we were not informed of that meeting until about two to three hours before the meeting took place, so we were unfortunately unable to attend and have that conversation,” Diedrick said.
Diedrick also said the closure was not a financial decision and that all labor unit employees were offered a new position within the ThedaCare system.
Gullickson says she now plans to pay thousands of dollars for an at-home birth in Waupaca.
The Save Waupaca Labor and Delivery group is speaking with Gov. Evers and state senators to try and find legislation that could stop the decision.
"We're not trying to cause any disturbances, for anybody,” Sky Byrd, Gullickson’s partner and member of the community group, says. “We're just here to make sure the voices are heard. We're going to keep going, long after the closure happens, we'll still be doing this.”
The group is hosting a benefit concert on Feb. 8, raising money to help Waupaca area mothers pay for unexpected transportation or midwife costs as a result of this closure.
More information can be found on their Facebook page.
