We heard from mothers in our region Tuesday about the closing of Legacy Mount Hood's Birth Center and the impact it will have.
The closing date is tentatively set for March 17.
Sarah Paulson shared her story with us.
She gave birth last November.
Originally, she had planned a home birth, but when the time came, her blood pressure readings became a cause for concern and her midwives moved to find her a bed in a hospital.
"My midwives ended up calling around because they are known in the Portland area, so they were calling Providence, but no one had a bed available, and this was around midnight. So they decided to call Mount Hood, which was right next to us, and they had a bed. And it was amazing, honestly," said Paulson.
She says that she had planned a home birth because she heard horror stories about giving birth at hospitals and was nervous about what could happen.
But, she says, giving birth at Legacy Mount Hood completely changed her mind.
She says if Legacy Mount Hood hadn't been there, her birth would have gone very differently.
"Before we left my house, I was nine centimeters dilated. By the time, an hour after we got to the hospital, Mount Hood Legacy is 20 minutes away from me -- so if I had to go somewhere, maybe in Portland, or who knows where would have gotten me in an hour in the car, I would have been at 10 centimeters already, and I would have been ready to push. I probably would have had my baby on the side of the road," Paulson said.
Legacy Mount Hood attributes the decision to close the birth center to financial losses in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a low volume of births and an unusually high-cost care model.
“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,” it said.