BRATTLEBORO, Vt. – The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) Board of Directors recently announced that the hospital’s popular birthing center will remain open, after it was announced in July that sustaining the center beyond 2026 was unrealistic.
The financially struggling medical facility had regrettably announced that it would shut down the birthing center due to the loss of millions of dollars over multiple years. However, an outcry from the birthing center staff, doctors, midwives, and many community members, and a grassroots-style rally to raise awareness convinced hospital officials to reconsider closing the regionally important birth center.
The result, according to BMH’s obstetrics department head, Corina Tennant, was the raising of $325,000 in pledged donations over just a week’s time. “These are not rich people,” Tennant stated in a recent hospital statement. “These are people who saw the risk of losing this [facility] and dug deep into their pockets to give an amount of money that they’ve probably never given to any cause in their life.”
After previous hospital attempts to receive state assistance from Vermont Gov. Phil Scott had failed, an early-September press release from hospital officials happily surprised many when it announced that BMH would also receive funding from the state’s Rural Health Transportation Program. However, it remains unclear how much funding the hospital will receive.
“The board believes strongly that access to local maternity care is essential to the health and wellbeing of our community,” Chloe Learey said in a recent hospital statement. Learey is the chair of BMH’s board of directors. “We are very encouraged by the progress that has been made and by the opportunity to continue improving how we deliver care.”
Hospital officials have mapped out a new plan to operate the birthing center much more effectively and efficiently, which will include increasing the availability of patient appointments, making staffing adjustments, and upgrading billing practices and office management.
Moving forward, BMH officials also plan to combat the struggles rural areas face, such as high fixed costs, by advocating for higher reimbursement rates, including Vermont’s Medicaid program. Hospital-based maternity care has been struggling throughout the state, with birthing centers in Springfield and Morrisville closing in recent years.