A crowd of nurses, mothers, and community members on Friday protested the closure of the Family Birth Center at the Legacy Health Mount Hood Medical Center.
As of Friday, Legacy Health said patients seeking labor or delivery care will be diverted to another hospital.
A nurse at the center said Friday evening that their doors will close at noon on Sunday.
Nurses spoke to the crowd Friday evening during the protest and said pregnant patients will face more risk because of the closure.
"It is a tragedy to expect a woman in an emergency to bypass what is now an exemplary birth center and drive into Portland, which could cost her precious time," she said.
Legacy Health announced the closure in early February and cited "a concerning trend of financial losses."
"We explored all possible options to continue operating the Family Birth Center to deliver safe, quality care in a cost-efficient and sustainable model. Unfortunately, we could not identify a model that met all the criteria for Legacy and our providers," Legacy Health said in a statement in early February.
If a woman is too far into labor to transfer to another facility, then she would give birth in the hospital's emergency department. An emergency nurse told KATU that it is not capable of providing emergency C-sections and does not have an on-call anesthesiologist to administer epidurals.
"We are nowhere close to being prepared to take care of these high-risk situations," said Jennifer Suarez, an emergency nurse at MHMC.
Legacy closed the birth center without approval from the Oregon Health Authority, which could prompt the state agency to take regulatory action. It is possible that type of action would target the entire Mount Hood Medical Center. OHA is still considering Legacy Health's waiver to close the birth center and has not announced any regulatory action against the hospital system.
OHA declined to KATU's interview request Friday to discuss the birth center closure. An agency spokesperson said the interim director is not able to comment directly because of the ongoing review of Legacy Health's waiver.
Legacy Health has not yet responded to KATU's interview request.