MILWAUKEE — A sudden decision to close the Ascension St. Francis Hospital’s labor and delivery unit will soon leave Milwaukee’s south side without a hospital to deliver babies.
Ascension employees say Wednesday marked the last day St. Francis Hospital accepted patients who are going into labor. The Hispanic community says it’s a loss of a critical service without any input from the people it serves.
"In a city that has shameful notoriety as being one of the cities with the highest racial disparities in the country, all this does is contribute to that,” said Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz.
Ortiz says the decision leaves a majority of Milwaukee’s growing Latino population with one choice, to Tavel further to have their babies delivered. The next closest hospitals with labor and delivery services are Aurora Sinai Medical Center, which is four miles away, and Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s, which is nearly 7 miles north.
"I think it's a matter of literally life and death if someone now has to not just with a regular birth but if it's a complicated birth being able to figure out who can take you there, public transportation not an option in a time-sensitive moment,” Neumann-Ortiz said.
Latino Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Nelson Soler says Latinos in Milwaukee already face disparities, from income inequalities and language barriers to healthcare access and insurance. He believes several of these become worse with this closure.
“To have a hospital that was sensitive to our needs, a unit that was so vital to our community disappear in a couple days, it doesn't sit well with the community, it doesn't sit well with everybody that depends on that vital service,” he said.
While Soler and Neumann-Ortiz believe this was the wrong decision, Milwaukee County Board Supervisor and Ascension OBGYN Dr. Sheldon Wasserman thinks it was the right one due to staffing levels and a decline in deliveries.
"I feel very bad for the community, there is a loss of a service there, but as long as that hospital remains, as long as other services are provided for, that's the key thing,” he said.
Wasserman says St. Francis’ labor and delivery unit delivers an average of 11 to 12 babies a month to nearly 200 at its nearest partner hospital, Columbia St. Mary’s. He believes better care is available there.
"When you have too few numbers, they're not ready for that emergency, they're not ready for that disaster and the one thing about OBGYN is disasters can strike very very quickly,” Wasserman said.
“People in that community take issue with how quickly this decision was made without any sort of community input. Why not gage community interest before making this decision?” TMJ4’s Ben Jordan asked.
"I'm not defending that, I'm not in the administration,” Wasserman replied. “I think that when you have a local community hospital, you have to work with your community and I think you have to work with your clientele, who your patients are and this message should have been sent out sooner to the community."
Voces de la Frontera says it’s in the process of launching a petition with the hopes it can get the hospital to reverse course.
