Bar Harbor Town Council Issues Statement on MDI Hospital’s Decision to Close Labor and Delivery Unit

The Bar Harbor Town Council issued a statement on Tuesday evening, April 1st in the wake of MDI Hospital's decision to close their Labor and Delivery Unit effective July 1st. 

The statement read

We are saddened to hear about the planned closure of MDI Hospital’s OB unit and are acutely aware of the impacts this action will have on our community. We have already seen the effects of similar closures on other communities throughout rural Maine and across the U.S. Although we know this decision wasn’t made lightly, we urge the hospital board to reconsider its decision and work with local stakeholders to find a way to keep this essential resource available.

In our ongoing discussions around community needs and improvements, such as building a new school or housing and infrastructure updates, the hospital is constantly brought up as a major employer and asset to the community. With that being said, the lack of the wider community’s involvement in making this decision is disappointing.

This move has implications beyond Bar Harbor – the entire island community relies on MDI Hospital to provide safe, accessible, and personalized natal care. If the hospital caregivers no longer deliver babies, we are worried about the implications for all women’s health services in the area, as there is a potential for expectant mothers to seek pre-and postnatal care where they are planning to give birth rather than through MDI Hospital.

Councilors have been in conversation with our state representatives over the past few days to find ways that we can work towards a statewide solution to this closure and others that may come in the future. Rural medicine and women's healthcare is not a given in many communities. We do not take for granted the fact that we represent a community that cares deeply about these issues, as we saw this past weekend at the YWCA community forum. We encourage you to continue using your voices to share your concerns and work collaboratively towards solutions with the hospital. We will keep you up to date about any advocacy work we are doing on the state level.

This followed a Town Meeting hosted by the MDI Hospital Nurses and the Maine State Nurses Association on March 30th. 

There is an online petition circulating asking the MDI Hospital administration to reverse their decision and to keep the Labor and Delivery Unit open.

MDI Hospital is set to host a Town Meeting explaining the decision to close the Labor and Delivery Unit and answer questions on Thursday, April 3rd from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor.

You can see the interview we had with Chrissi Maguire the MDI Hospital CEO and President the day that the Hospital announced that the unit would be closing.