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GRESHAM Ore. (KPTV) – On Tuesday, Legacy Health released a statement saying it plans on reopening the Family Birth Center and its Mount Hood Medical Center this summer. The statement read in part, “On behalf of the Legacy Health leadership team, we want to apologize for the stress, confusion, and disruption caused by the situation at our Mount Hood Family Birth Center. We understand the impact it has had on our employees, providers, and most importantly, our patients. Now, it is our goal to rebuild trust as we move forward together.”
The full statement can be found here.
“We are really, really happy, said Representative Zach Hudson, who represents House District 49, where the Mount Hood Medical Center is located. “I think this shows that when we work together and lead with our values the system does work. What ended up happening is that we, as a community, advocated to the Oregon Health Authority for why this Family Birth Center was so important to our community and clearly they heard us and they looked at Legacy’s justification for why this wouldn’t impact the community and they found it lacking. So they recognized what we had been saying, which was we need to have these maternity services here in the community, where they are accessible to people, especially the most vulnerable people who might need them.”
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Last month, despite not receiving approval from the Oregon Health Authority, Legacy Health closed its Family Birth Center in Gresham. OHA later denied the approval waiver and opened an investigation into why Legacy Health chose to close the Family Birth Center,
“What I have been hearing from constituents is that they’re very happy at the decision and are looking forward to seeing the Birth Center reopen,” said Representative Hudson. “However, I have been hearing from Legacy staff who have been sent to other locations, Randall Children’s Hospital for instance, and they are noticing that the Legacy Mount Hood closure has been affecting nearby maternity services quite a lot. We are hearing of overflow at Randall Children’s Hospital and sometimes even patients needing to be diverted from there because of a lack of capacity. I think that shows that the Mount Hood Family Birth Center was always essential and it just highlights how important it is to get it reopening and up to capacity as fast as possible. To members of the community who may or are hoping to use the Family Birth Center soon, we are hoping there will be what they call a soft opening in 45 days. That’s the current plan and hopefully get up to full capacity within 90. I’m sorry this had to happen, but I think we are on the right track now. We are looking forward to seeing things return to normal.”
Representative Hudson has sponsored a bill, House Bill 3295, which if passed, would require the OHA to study how closing a birthing center would impact historically under-served communities like people of color, immigrants, and those with low incomes in that respected area before granting such a waiver. It’s currently in the House Rules Committee, but Rep. Hudson says he’s been speaker to the Chair, encouraging them to put the bill up for a work session.
“I’m feeling very optimistic about the ability to vote on this bill and send it to the Governor this session,” said Rep. Hudson.
The news of the announcement brings mixed emotions to those currently working, or who used to work, at Mount Hood Medical Center.
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“It’s definitely been an emotional rollercoaster,” said Teddy Glemser, an emergency department charge nurse. “With the announcement of the reopening, it’s made me feel excited and hopeful and also a little hesitant too. I feel like this announcement has been made, but I just hope that the Legacy administration follows through with this decision. It sounds like there was an email sent out by our Chief Operating Officer and it says they have plans to reopen by the month of July. I’m not sure what level of reopening but I am hopeful that it will be fully functioning and operational by September when my current child is due. I’m hopeful, I’m excited, and I really hope to have the Family Birth nurses back on the Mount Hood campus and joining our team.”
“It’s been a very devastating, traumatic part of my career and my development as a professional,” said Alejandrina Felipe, a registered nurse who used to be a relief charge nurse at Mount Hood Medical Center. “I think I one of the few nurses who took severance. I would love to return, however I think that Legacy still has a lot of accountability to do. As of right now, I have not heard from Legacy and I know that a lot of my fellow coworkers have not been offered their position back.
Some nurses say they are excited for this latest news and those who have left would like to return, but they are calling for more communication from Legacy Health going forward.
“I don’t know what the reopening looks like and who is going to take part,” said Felipe. “I fought alongside other nurses for our community to be heard, for the needs of the east county communities, so I would hope there is a plan in place for Legacy to do the outreach and compensation to all of us nurses that want to go back. What does that look like? As of right now, I don’t know what’s happening.”
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“It’s just been very frustrating,” said Glemser. “I feel like with the information they presented initially they are not following up with that, they haven’t sent any apologies, or how they are going to fix it. They also haven’t reached out to the Family Birth nurses that have been reassigned within the Legacy Health System or who have taken severance packages or completely left the Legacy Health System and transitioned to another one. That’s one thing that’s extremely irritating to know. How do they expect to rebuild this department when they are not reaching out to the core of that department, the nursing staff? They are the ones that make it run and I have spoken to several of them personally and they have not been reached out to. As long as they are open to being open and honest with us, we will continue to be open and honest with them. Hopefully, this will only build a more transparent relationship with all of us and hopefully not have something as significant as closing a department in a much-needed community hospital.”
Glemser says she hopes the community knows the staff will continue fighting.
“Whether it was a small group of us working with legislators to continue fighting the fight or the hospital as a whole unionizing and creating a rally, a vigil to bring to light what was happening in your community and we are going to keep fighting for you,” said Glemser. “We will not stop. Legacy has announced they will reopen the Family Birth Center and we will hold them to that. We will ensure that it gets reopened. We can only hope we as a group of nurses and also a health system can rebuild the trust in the community. We are a safe hospital that you can come to and get treated for whatever you need in regards to healthcare and you will be taken care of appropriately in a caring and professional manner.”
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