North Central Mass Legislative Delegation and Community Advocates to Host Baby Stroller Brigade/Rally on Leominster Town Common to Protest UMass Closure of Birthing Center at Leominster Hospital

When:  Monday July 10 at 6 p.m.
Where: Leominster Town Common
Gathering at the Corner of Park and West St.

LEOMINSTER, Mass., July 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling all past, present, and future Birthing Center parents, kids, families, and friends, The North Central Massachusetts Legislative Delegation in conjunction with the Community United to Save Our Birthing Center campaign campign and the Massachusetts Nurses Association is hosting a Baby Stroller Brigade/Rally at the historic Leominster Town Common to demonstrate the Gateway Cities' solidarity and support for preserving local access to maternity services at Leominster Hospital.

The Baby Stroller Brigade event is the latest action organized by a growing coalition of concerned residents, area legislators, caregivers and community advocates who oppose a plan by UMass Memorial Health to close the Birthing Center at Leominster Hospital.  It follows a well-attended community forum held last Thursday by the Community United to Save Our Birthing Center coalition where community leaders, residents and advocates spoke passionately about the need to preserve this vital service. 

The Leominster Hospital Birthing Center provides an essential service that must be maintained, including labor, delivery, postpartum and nursery care for families living in communities of Northern Worcester County.  The loss of this service will jeopardize the health of mothers and newborns in our community, leaving mothers to deliver in overcrowded emergency departments or on the side of highways as they travel to birthing centers in faraway communities.

Mass Memorial has provided DPH with the required notice of its intention to close the service as of Sept. 23, 2023. As required by law, the Department of Public Health recently announced that it will conduct a public hearing on the closure to determine if this is an essential service for the communities served by the program.  The hearing has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 24 at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel in Leominster.

As part of the campaign, the Community United Coalition has launched a petition drive for community members and supporters to register their support for the Birthing Center, which will be shared with UMass Memorial Health, the Department of Public Health and other officials, urging them to rescind this dangerous plan, and to preserve this vital service.  Click here to view the petition: bit.ly/LeominsterMaternity.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association