Please read the following messages:From Jim Bob and Michelle: Back 12 years ago our family went through one of the...
Posted by Duggar Family Official on Thursday, May 21, 2015
Nearly a year after Hutcheson Medical Center made the controversial decision to suspend labor and delivery services, board members voted today to bring them back, citing "overwhelming demand from physicians and the community."
The North Georgia hospital plans to bring labor and delivery along with inpatient pediatric services by the end of the calendar year.
"For years, Hutcheson has been known as 'The Place Where Babies Come From' and we are extremely pleased to once again offer this service," said Hutcheson CEO Farrell Hayes in a prepared statement. "We had tremendous feedback from North Georgia physicians and citizens to reopen Labor and Delivery, and we are on track to do just that in time to deliver a New Year's baby."
Last winter, Hayes said that closing the Women's Center at the hospital was a necessary austerity measure as the hospital faced millions in debt and mounting losses. The center had become a growing burden to the Fort Oglethorpe hospital, losing about $2 million a year, the CEO said at the time.
But today, Hutcheson officials say they have remodeled their labor and delivery unit to compete with other area birthing facilities.
"Today, it's not enough to provide excellent quality medical care," said Sandra Siniard, vice president of patient care. "Mothers and families want an aesthetically pleasing environment with modern amenities in which to give birth, and our new wing offers just that."
For more information, read Tuesday's Times Free Press.