By HFT Staff

Community Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Hicksville, Ohio, will close its obstetrics department and stop labor and delivery services on Sept. 18. The hospital’s board of governors voted to close the department due to ongoing challenges of recruiting and retaining new employees resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“It is a very difficult decision,” says Roy Davis, CEO of CMH. “Labor and delivery is a unique service line that requires intensive staffing and training. Unfortunately, the pandemic response, years of declining births and the struggle to recruit staff have led to an unsustainable financial position for the hospital. The OB staff will all be offered current open positions within the system and there will be no layoffs.” 

Expectant mothers can continue to receive their prenatal and postnatal care with a CMH physician but will have to deliver at another facility. To assist with care, CMH is working with local hospitals to credential its OB physicians so that they may choose to deliver their patients at those facilities.