WAUPACA (NBC 26) — The fight for childbirth healthcare continues in Waupaca as the community comes together to make signs they plan to use at a protest later this month.
- ThedaCare Waupaca announced it was closing its labor and delivery unit on Feb. 15.
- Save Waupaca Labor and Delivery is a community group trying to convince ThedaCare to change its mind.
- ThedaCare said in a statement the closure was due to many mothers already choosing larger hospitals and a staffing shortage.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, edited for web)
Members of the Save Waupaca Labor and Delivery community group met to create signs for a protest at ThedaCare headquarters later this month.
"Don't let Waupaca become a healthcare desert," Jane Peterson, a member of the group, reads on one of the signs.
The group was created after ThedaCare Waupaca announced it was closing its labor and delivery unit on Feb. 15.
They hope to convince ThedaCare to reconsider its decision.
"It's really important to me to keep birth local," Peterson says.
Peterson was a midwife in the area for 40 years. She did not work at ThedaCare, but she says closing the labor unit will affect the entire hospital.
"It builds a real strength in a clinic and in a hospital," she says. "Even though OB isn't a money maker, it never is, it doesn't mean it isn't like the foundation of a house. If you don't have that foundation, then other parts of it are not going to stand as well."
ThedaCare said in a statement to NBC 26 the closure was due to many mothers already choosing larger hospitals and a staffing shortage.
The statement also said "...our network of hospitals, physicians will work with expectant mothers to create coordinated labor and delivery plans at the birth center of their choice, including ThedaCare hospitals in Appleton, Berlin, Neenah and Shawano."
Save Waupaca Labor and Delivery has not chosen a date for the protest, but updates will be posted to its Facebook page.
