Inland Empire hospital announces plans to shut down labor and delivery department

Hemet Global Medical Center has just announced their plans to completely shut down the labor and delivery department in just over two months.

The decision, which comes after hospital officials considered a number of factors, will impact 35 people that are set to lose their jobs because of the closure. 

"I've been here for 44 years, dedicated my entire career to working here and it breaks my heart," said Ginny Packham, a nurse with the hospitals labor and delivery department. 

She's worried for the low-income women of the community, who will now lose their easy access to maternity care. 

"The women we see here, many of them are underserved," Packham said. "They don't get prenatal care."

She was one of many nurses outside of the hospital on Monday that spoke with KCAL News about the decision. They all shared the same sentiment. 

"My concern overall is for specially the low income community that we have here," said Andrea Lunetta, another nurse. "They just come here when it's time to have their babies and those can be very high risk pregnancies."

While there are three other hospitals within a 20-mile radius, but the drive usually takes about 45 minutes, which in some cases may be too late.

Brian Hawkins, a San Jacinto Council member, says that he believes the necessary changes can be made before the department shutters. 

"I don't believe anything is too late, because they haven't closed it," he said. 

The hospital says that the decision was based on the low birth numbers and a shortage of physicians, something that the nurses admit is true. They say that when they started, the department had seven physicians. Now, there's one physician who works in the hospital two days a week.

Despite this, they still feel that the hospital should still stay open for every mother and baby that still needs care. 

"If a mother doesn't have access to health care here, close by, and transportation affects them from going to Loma Linda, that baby's gonna come, that baby's gonna be delivered somewhere," Councilman Hawkins said. "Could be in an alley somewhere, could be delivered in a trash can."

A spokesperson for the hospital issued a statement upon request from KCAL News.

"Due to consistently low volume and a shortage of physician coverage, Hemet Global Medical Center has submitted a formal request to the California Department of Public Health for approval of a temporary one-year suspension of its labor and delivery unit," the statement said. "All labor and delivery unit employees are being offered the opportunity to transfer to open positions at Hemet Global Medical Center and Menifee Global Medical Center. The emergency department remains open and fully accessible for emergency deliveries."