In unanimous vote, Common Council urges Ascension Wisconsin to reopen shuttered Milwaukee hospital delivery unit
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In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Milwaukee Common Council called on Ascension Wisconsin to reopen the now-closed labor and delivery unit at Ascension St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee and to put a pause on any further cuts at Ascension hospitals in the city.
The measure received resounding support from council members, all of whom signed on to it as sponsors or co-sponsors.
Council members have signaled the measure is only the "first step" in addressing concerns about cuts in services at Ascension hospitals in the city.
The labor and delivery unit at St. Francis was the only such unit on Milwaukee's south side until it was abruptly closed in December. The closure sparked an outcry from hospital workers and from local elected officials who worry the closure is a harbinger of more cuts and decried it as part of a gradual "disinvestment" from a community hospital that serves largely low-income patients in a mostly Hispanic part of the city.
Explaining the closure, hospital officials have pointed to the declining number of deliveries performed at the hospital and to the recent departures of the hospital's last obstetricians. Hospital officials decided it would be "best and safest" to send expectant mothers to other nearby Ascension hospitals for delivery.
But hospital workers opposed to the closure have called that a pretext and said hospital officials failed to recruit new obstetricians or adequately support the labor and delivery unit.
At a press conference following passage of the measure Tuesday, Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa called on Ascension Wisconsin to invest in health care on Milwaukee's south side, which is heavily Hispanic and has a large immigrant population, not only from Latin America, but Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
"They are missing out on an opportunity by continuing to divest at St. Francis. They could be serving these emerging immigrant populations that happen to be young and thriving and having lots of babies," Zamarripa said.
The council resolution, which is largely symbolic and does not force Ascension to do anything, now will go to Mayor Cavalier Johnson for his consideration. Johnson has not said whether he will sign the resolution, but his spokesperson Jeff Fleming said the mayor "supports having health facilities available to Milwaukee residents."
Last month, Ascension Wisconsin announced several of its top executives were leaving, including its chief executive Bernie Sherry. The shakeup took place after some of its hospitals came under fire for cutting services and for staffing shortages that health care professionals said were threatening patient care.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that the one of its premier hospitals, Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital on Milwaukee's east side, has struggled to keep staffing at proper levels. Nurses reported being assigned more patients than they considered realistic, or even safe. Patients needing help reported not being able to reach nurses or waiting many hours in the emergency department.
More: Nurses overworked, doctors disgusted, patients unattended: Inside Columbia St. Mary's
At Tuesday's press conference, Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a liberal advocacy group, said the council resolution is only a first step. He called on Gov. Tony Evers and other elected officials to weigh in on the issue and to exercise what leverage they have over Ascension Health, which is a national, nonprofit health system.
"Here's the problem: our hospital systems are nonprofit in name only," he said. "Ascension is not operating in the public interest."
In a letter to Common Council members, an Ascension Wisconsin official said that the relocation of labor and delivery services to its other Milwaukee hospitals, including Columbia St. Mary's in Milwaukee, was in the best interest of patients.
"A decision to proceed with labor and delivery services to patients in Milwaukee's south side (at St. Francis) would not have been appropriate or aligned with our commitment to quality," wrote Reginald Newson, chief advocacy officer for Ascension Wisconsin, pointing to the lack of obstetricians at St. Francis and the higher level of care available at Columbia St. Mary's.
Alison Dirr of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Common Council tells Ascension to undo cuts at Milwaukee hospital
