Politicians, local advocates protest Leominster birth center closure plan

By Liesel Nygard | LNygard@masslive.com

Published: Jul. 17, 2023, 11:47 p.m.

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....."When the announcement was first made that UMass Memorial Health wants to close the Leominster hospital’s birthing center, Eladia Romero and Irene Hernandez created the Community United to Save Our Birthing Center coalition.

They both pulled in local leaders, particularly people who have worked with communities of color and disadvantaged communities to provide a platform for individuals to share their thoughts and concerns about the potential closure.

“To this day we have not seen anything from the hospital in any other language,” said Romero. “So women of color, Latinas, people who do not speak English, were not even notified.”

According to a recent study from the Department of Public Health, from 2011 to 2020, Black non-Hispanic birthing people have consistently experienced “the highest rates of labor and delivery complications among all races and ethnicities.”

For Leominster, Romero said, “transportation is a barrier to healthcare particularly for people of color.”

“Women who are already struggling financially, socially, economically, whatever the assumption that they could just go to Worcester, that they have money for gas, that they have transportation is a false narrative,” said Romero.

Hernandez added that closing the birthing center can also harm the elderly community.

“Today, I got a call about elders who need to do pap smears, and the doctors are leaving and closing their practices because of this,” said Hernandez. “So now, where are they going to go for their annual physicals? It’s not just maternity, it’s going to impact all of us in many different ways, with not just the birthing center, but pediatricians there’s different services they provide, but the big one is pregnant women.”.....