UH leader tells Ravenna mayor: Hospital is here to stay despite end of birthing services

Ravenna Mayor Frank Seman said a hospital leader reassured him that UH Portage Medical Center isn't leaving Ravenna, despite its recent decision to cease labor and delivery services there.

More:Moms make plans to deliver outside Portage as labor and delivery unit closes

The mayor told City Council on Monday that he finally had a chance to speak to Bill Benoit, chief operating officer of UH's South Market, for the first time since the decision was announced late last month. He said Benoit assured him that the hospital, Ravenna's largest employer, is reducing one of its services but expanding others.

"My concern was, is this the beginning of something else," Seman said. "He assured me that this was not the case."

Benoit confirmed in a statement that the hospital remains "committed to the health of the community, now and for decades to come."

"UH Portage will continue to offer comprehensive women and children’s services, including OB/GYN physician and midwife care, GYN surgical, and breastfeeding and lactation services," he said "Only deliveries will consolidate to UH Geauga."

Earlier this year, UH received $1 million to establish a new Breast Health Center at the Ravenna hospital.

More:Summa closing Barberton Hospital labor and delivery unit, moving services to Akron

Summa, Youngstown-Warren hospitals also consolidating birthing services

UH Portage is not the only hospital consolidating labor and delivery services. Summa Health System said Tuesday that it closing Barberton Hospital's labor and delivery unit and relocating maternity services to its Akron City Hospital campus. The change will be effective Nov. 15, three days after UH Portage will close its labor and delivery unit.

Five maternity wards in the Youngstown-Warren area have closed in recent years, including the one at Trumbull Regional Hospital at the end of 2020, the Warren Tribune-Chronicle reported.

Seman said he learned from Benoit that UH Portage handled only 25% of the births in Portage County. As a "low-risk" delivery site, UH Portage already was sending patients with complications to larger facilities.

An average of 1,350 babies were born to Portage County residents each year between 2017 and 2021, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Roughly half of those were born at UH Portage over the past decade, the ODH said.

The hospital delivered between 595 and 704 babies annually since 2012, with 627 born there last year and 490 so far this year. (The ODH numbers for 2021 and 2022 are preliminary.)

Seman said he was told by Benoit that fewer doctors are choosing to go into obstetrics.

"They cannot keep it staffed," the mayor said. "It's a problem. The liability is huge."

Roderick Ingram, spokesman for Northeast Ohio Medical University, said between 1% and 3% of students at NEOMED have selected residencies in obstetrics and gynecology in recent years. Other primary-care specialties, such as internal and family medicine, tend to be more popular, he said, while some students choose other specialties, such as surgery or psychiatry.

Hospitals struggling to hire enough workers

Seman said Benoit told him the hospital is having the same problems hiring that the city and other employers are having, and it's difficult to find providers for other services, such as HVAC to keep the humidity and air pure.

"There's a lot more to this than we just close the place up," he said. "My concern is that they're our biggest contributor to the city, and they've been a good partner."

He said UH has asked the city for help with an ambulance, and the city owes UH an answer, because the ambulance could be used to transport people in labor to Geauga.

He said Benoit told him that the hospital "is still in the black" despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benoit told Seman he is willing to meet with other Portage County mayors, and Hiram Mayor Lou Bertrand has been asked to set up that meeting.

Record-Courier staff writer Derek Kreider contributed to this article. Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: UH leader tells Ravenna mayor that hospital isn't going anywhere