Mount Desert Island Hospital Nurses Organize Meeting Sharing Frustrations Over Obstetrics Closure

On Sunday, union nurses with Mount Desert Island Hospital (MDIH) held a community meeting to protest the decision by CEO Chrissi Maguire to close the hospital’s obstetrics (OB) department on July 1.

“Going to the ER for an emergency and not having OB staff there is not safe, if you're in an emergent obstetric complication," said Janice Horton, RN, a 32-year veteran of MDI Hospital's OB Department, according to Fox 22 Bangor.

"It really shouldn't matter, if we have two, 200, 2000 births a year, we want our patients our birthing individuals, and their families to have choice and to have access to the care they need," said Emily Wright, RN with the MDI Hospital OB Department.

This closure follows a rash of OB closures in Maine, including at York Hospital, Northern Maine Medical Hospital, Calais Community Hospital, Downeast Community Hospital, Waldo Hospital, and the entirety of Inland Hospital. The next closest labor and delivery unit is the Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth.

Former MDI family care Dr. Mary Dudzik told the audience the first 20 years of her career at the hospital was “perfect” as she delivered babies and treated them, their parents and grandparents. She said she had her two children at the obstetrics department, which she described as “the jewel in the crown because they were so wonderful.”

“Unfortunately over the next several years medicine started to change in a big way,” she said. “Instead of being a service, it became a business. It sickens me to see how much of a business and corporation it has become now. It is all about the bottom line.”

“Why is it always women’s and children’s services that go out the door first?” Dudzik asked, drawing loud applause. “I really can’t wrap my head around why this hospital is building a $37 million expansion instead of funneling some of that donor money to OB.”

After the meeting, Wright said her heart was full from the outpouring of support from the community for keeping the OB department.

“I feel very empowered and super excited and ready for the fight ahead,” she said. “I know that we’re going to bring this essential service back to the community and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that this community is heard and that we uplift their voices.”