St. Mary’s to consolidate birthing services into Athens hospital

Lavonia, Ga. – Like all hospitals across Georgia, St. Mary’s Sacred Heart continues to face significant challenges. To ensure the sustainability of St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital and address these increasing challenges, St. Mary’s Health Care System will be consolidating labor and delivery services into one location at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens. St. Mary’s Medical Group will also discontinue care at Clear Creek OB/GYN in Lavonia. This transition will take effect in late October.

This decision follows an extensive 18-month discernment process that included intensive efforts to recruit additional physicians, create new partnerships, and pursue incremental funding sources. Changing demographics in our region, physician recruitment challenges, increasing outmigration for labor and delivery services, and recent Congressional cuts to Medicaid solidified this decision.

St. Mary’s takes great pride in and is thankful for the exceptional care provided in the Mother-Baby Unit. The dedication of our staff, physicians, and the meaningful role this unit has played over the years has been outstanding. Our exhaustive discernment showed this difficult decision was necessary to continue serving our community and its evolving care needs. We remain committed to supporting patients and colleagues through the transition.

Patients have been contacted and will be supported with a smooth and safe transition of care to St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens or other area facilities and providers. St. Mary’s Family Birth Center in Athens includes a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a c-section suite, lactation education and support, and a facility that allows mothers to labor, deliver, recover, and receive post-partum care in one room.

Sacred Heart Hospital’s Emergency Department is led by board-certified emergency medicine physicians and is fully capable of evaluating, stabilizing, and treating all patients, including those seeking gynecological and obstetrical care. As in all emergency departments, if a higher level of care is needed, the patient would be transferred by ambulance to the nearest appropriate facility.

St. Mary’s is committed to supporting impacted staff and colleagues who wish to continue their employment with St. Mary’s in finding appropriate positions.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. You mention that this has been an 18-month process, and that the recent Medicaid cuts are a factor. Without those cuts, would it have been sustainable to keep the mother/baby unit open?

While the Medicaid cuts solidified our decision, the primary reasons for closure include challenges securing permanent physicians, creating new partnerships, changing demographics and lack of incremental funding sources.

2. You mentioned that the emergency room is equipped to handle emergency births. How will that work? After an emergency delivery, will the mother and baby then be transferred to Athens?

Our Sacred Heart Emergency Department is trained, prepared, and equipped to handle any emergency, including OB/GYN emergencies. As in all emergency departments, if a higher level of care is needed, the patient would be transferred by ambulance to the nearest appropriate facility, which could be St. Mary’s or another hospital capable of meeting the needs of the mother and baby.

3. Can you give me statistical information about how the number of deliveries at Sacred Heart has changed?

On average, Sacred Heart Hospital has delivered significantly fewer than one baby a day for several years, and the trend is downward.

4. Will the mother/baby unit and Clear Creek OB/GYN staff be given other duties in Lavonia, transferred to Athens or let go altogether?

Our Human Resources Department is working one-on-one with affected colleagues. During the transition, we are committed to supporting impacted staff who wish to continue their employment with St. Mary’s in finding appropriate positions, as much as possible.

We are not giving interviews or photo ops at this time. We CAN provide a photo of the hospital. Attribute to a written response from St. Mary’s (or similar language)