The hospital’s interim CEO, Mike Halstead, told the publication the center cost Springfield $600,000 each year. The hospital’s board voted March 19 to shutter the center after 105 years of service due to decreasing deliveries. In 2018, 152 babies were delivered, compared to 172 the year prior.
The change comes after Springfield Hospital lost roughly $14 million in two years. In January of this year, the hospital nearly closed before it obtained an $800,000 loan from Vermont. It also terminated 27 positions in February and lowered salaries to save $3 million, according to the VTDigger.
The nearest birthing centers are close to an hour drive away from Springfield at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., Brattleboro (Vt.) Memorial Hospital and Rutland (Vt.) Regional Medical Center.
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