Ohio Nurses Association

OhioHealth owes this community answers. We’re waiting.

As an elected representative serving the PEOPLE of Delaware, I want to post a follow up about OhioHealth’s closure of Grady Memorial’s Labor and Delivery Unit. I want our citizens to have a full and clear picture of the healthcare services available to them in the City of Delaware.

OhioHealth publicly stated “Prenatal, postnatal and gynecologic care will continue locally in Delaware County, and OhioHealth is expanding women’s health services.” Prior to the closure, Lactation Services were withdrawn from Grady Memorial Hospital. That is a reduction in available postnatal care. There IS still an OhioHealth OB/Gyn office in Delaware providing prenatal and postpartum appointments with delivery privileges at Dublin.

OhioHealth publicly stated “Grady Memorial’s emergency department teams are fully equipped, trained, and prepared to safely support and deliver babies for any patient who arrives in labor or requires an emergency delivery.” The ED took the maternal hemorrhage cart out of the L&D on Friday night, but to my knowledge there has been no training provided to the ED staff on the management of maternal hemorrhages. Last week, OhioHealth administration informed the ED staff that not only would they NOT be providing Neonatal Resuscitation Protocol training to the ED nurses, but they would no longer be requiring the ED doctors to be trained in NRP either. (Edited to include new information) There will be just 2 Respiratory Therapists at Grady for each shift certified in NRP. One assigned to the ED. They are not pediatric specialists and do not typically independently run a resuscitation on an infant without the direction of OB and L&D Nurses. They are being put in a very compromising professional position. In Ohio, ED doctors may only perform perimortem c-sections, in plain English, only on women who are deceased or in cardiac arrest, to save the baby. The primary ambulance service OhioHealth is contracted with informed OhioHealth administration weeks ago that they do not transfer neonates.

On Friday night, as the Labor and Delivery unit closed its doors, the ED had their first Obstetrical Emergency present. ED staff called the remaining OB and Nurses from L&D to assist (although with the unit closing that staff was limited in the care they could offer), because the entire plan for emergency births was “transport the patient within 30minutes.” However, when the transport coordinator called for transport to Dublin, they were given a transport time 12 hours away. When the ED staff called OhioHealth Administration for direction (because they had not been adequately prepared and protocols were not in place) they were instructed to call 911. The OhioHealth Grady ED plan for emergency births is to call 911 and pass the problem off to taxpayer funded EMS.

The nurses who have lost their jobs at OhioHealth as a result of the closure were to receive their Severance Packages today. They did not. I believe this is retaliation against the nurses who publicly spoke out about the closure.

Cherie Smith, PhD, MBA, RN, OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital and OhioHealth Dublin Methodist President looked me in the eye and told me that Anesthesia services would remain available at Grady for “all services at all times.” Today, the Anesthesia staff was informed of a 50k annual pay cut and the Pediatricians were informed of a 40% annual pay cut since “they will no longer be on call” for Grady. Seeing as there are critical nationwide shortages of both Anesthesiologists and Pediatricians, how long do you think they will continue to serve Grady in any capacity? OhioHealth Administration already said it is simply too difficult to recruit for a hospital as small as Grady (yet the same administration refuses to invest in Grady, despite it being profitable - to the tune of $20million annually last year and this year).

City Council has no authority over how Nonprofit Healthcare Organizations operate. I did everything within my limited legal capacity to prevent the closure.

It is time for the citizens of Delaware to use their political and consumer voices to demand adequate healthcare services in the City of Delaware. If it is important to you to have local access to healthcare, you need to make sure that OhioHealth, Any other health system you utilize, your City Council members, your County Commissioners, your State Representative and Senator, and your Governor know that you will not accept anything less than robust access to adequate healthcare appropriate for a City and County of our size and economic strength.

"OhioHealth is making a huge mistake by leaving this open wound in the community."
OhioHealth's heartless decision to prioritize profits over patients has left Delaware families reeling and Ohio's fastest-growing county without the local care it needs to keep mothers and infants safe.

Of note: in addition to losing local healthcare services, many smaller Ohio communities have lost their local newspapers, also due to corporate greed and consolidation. But local news coverage, close to the community, is vital for covering stories like this. The Delaware Source has done incredible work covering the closure of Grady Maternity, including breaking original news about Grady's former attorney who represented the county in the 2005 merger.

Readers remember Grady Memorial's maternity unit through stories of birth, compassion and community Read memories shared by families who remember Grady Memorial's maternity unit, now a cherished part of Delaware County's history.

“When labor and delivery closes, families cannot simply ‘shop elsewhere.' Delays in care carry real clinical consequences.”

OhioHealth closes Delaware maternity unit amid concerns over newborn, emergency care DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) — Grady Memorial Hospital’s maternity unit is scheduled to close Friday, ending inpatient labor and delivery services in Delaware County after more than a month of oppos…

“Healthcare is a human right, and corporate executives should not get to decide which ZIP codes are worthy of access to essential healthcare services."

'The fight doesn't end here': Community leaders reflect as Grady's maternity unit prepares to close Grady Memorial Hospital's maternity unit is set to close this evening, several key players from the month-long journey give their closing thoughts.

"OhioHealth has grown in size and power to the extent that it is able to manipulate the healthcare market in ways that greatly harm central Ohioans’ access to healthcare services."

Ohio Nurses Association asks Justice Department to review closure of Grady Memorial maternity unit The union has also called for the Justice Department to review the impact OhioHealth's market share has on access to healthcare for residents of central Ohio.

"OhioHealth takes over rural hospitals, starves them of resources, eliminates critical services, and leaves healthcare deserts in its wake. This has to stop. And the problem is so widespread and serious that we need the intervention of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Ohio Nurses Association sends letter to DOJ over OhioHealth concerns In particular, the letter cites the recent decision to discontinue inpatient maternity services at Grady Memorial Hospital as well as the impact of the healthcare system’s market power.

“This attitude of ‘not my problem’ and the policy of nonintervention this city, county and state has when it comes to the health and safety of its most vulnerable citizens — newborn babies — is vile.” Linsey Griffith 1st Ward Delaware City Council

Ohio Attorney General's Office says it cannot enforce Grady Memorial affiliation agreement Learn why Ohio’s AG says it can’t enforce Grady Memorial’s maternity agreement as the unit closes, ending local labor and delivery care.

“In healthcare, protecting competition must also mean protecting access.”

Ohio Nurses Association urges federal review of Grady Memorial maternity unit closure The Ohio Nurses Association urges a Justice Department review of OhioHealth's maternity unit closure to protect healthcare access.

Today, ONA sent a letter to the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division, asking them to look into the closure of Grady Memorial Hospital's Maternity Unit and the ways that OhioHealth's size, power, and practices negatively impact central Ohioans' access to healthcare.

“OhioHealth has grown in size and power to the extent that it is able to manipulate the healthcare market in ways that greatly harm central Ohioans’ access to healthcare services,” said ONA President Rick Lucas, RN. “As it is doing with the maternity unit at Grady Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth takes over rural hospitals, starves them of resources, eliminates critical services, and leaves healthcare deserts in its wake. This has to stop. And the problem is so widespread and serious that we need the intervention of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

ohnurses.org

“There’s no way we would have turned over the hospital to anybody if services were going to be cut. They made a promise in person and on paper and that commitment needs to be honored.”

Delaware residents hope for last-minute save as hosptial service set to end DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) — The maternity unit at Grady Memorial Hospital is set to close on Friday, but hospital advocates and city leaders are still working to try to stop the closure. Delawar…