After a precipitous drop in births, officials with Adventist Health Tulare announced in March they would temporarily close their obstetrics department on June 6.
Not long after that announcement, hospital officials ended up moving that date up to April 30.
“Adventist Health Tulare paused labor and delivery care effective April 30, 2024, at 11:59 p.m,” a statement from Renee Garcia, a marketing manager with Adventist Health, read.
“The decision to move the closure date from June 6, 2024, came after a conversation with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and hospital leadership about unsustainable obstetric volumes at the hospital to protect patient safety,” the statement said.
Garcia said that the inconsistent numbers of expectant mothers made it impossible to keep the hospital staffed with labor and delivery nurses and doctors.
“More high risk moms were coming into the emergency room, such as moms that hadn’t had any prenatal care, and we were worried about patient safety,” she said.
Garcia said that now all expectant mothers are transferred to other hospitals unless it’s an emergency.
“The Emergency Department at Adventist Health Tulare is trained to provide superb care in emergent maternal care cases,” said Heather Van Housen, Patient Care Executive for Adventist’s Central California Network.
Garcia said the hospital has been giving their ER doctors extra training in how to handle emergency births.
In the mean time, Adventist Tulare has been trying to get the word out.
Garcia said they’ve put the new closing date on public announcement advertisements in newspapers, announced it on their website and have advised all the local clinics.
“Patients can continue to rely on Adventist Health for exceptional delivery and obstetric care in Hanford, Reedley, and Delano. If patients are transferred to one of our locations, they can expect timely, compassionate, and high-quality healthcare,” said the statement.
The decision to close the Obstetrics Department at Adventist Tulare was made in March. Hospitals have been closing maternity wards across the state in recent years, according to a November 2023 CalMatters report that found “at least 46 California hospitals have shut down or indefinitely suspended labor and delivery since 2012.”
“Year over year the number of births at the hospital has declined 60% and was even worse in the last few months. Unfortunately, the number of deliveries has substantially declined over the last two years, and the program is not sustainable,” Garcia told the Voice in March.
Garcia said that staff working in labor and delivery at Tulare were reassigned to Adventist Health’s Hanford and Reedley locations, though some chose to leave and work at Kaweah Health due to the commute.
Kevin Northcraft, the Tulare Local Healthcare District board president, was unaware the department was already closed.
“We have not discussed it during our meetings,” he said. “The board doesn’t have anything to do with the running of the hospital.”
The district owns the physical hospital premises and leases the hospital campus to Adventist Health, but doesn’t control the hospital’s operations.
Northcraft said he hoped the closure is temporary.
“Tulare has 77,000 people and to not be able to have your home town on your birth certificate – it’s sad,” he said.
Northcraft emphasized that the hospital had made advances in other areas such as orthopedics and MRIs.
He said a couple of months ago Adventist Tulare acquired MRI equipment that is the best in the country — and the only one like it in the state. The clarity of MRIs is vastly improved, he said.
The future of obstetrics in Tulare
“Adventist Health will continue to enhance family planning, women’s health, prenatal care, and pediatric care in the community at Adventist Health Medical Office Tulare at 2059 N. Hillman St., Tulare, CA 93274,” the statement said.
Garcia said that Adventist’s goal is to reopen obstetrics at Adventist Tulare, and that a new obstetrics doctor is slated to start at an Adventist clinic in August — they will then refer obstetric patients to Adventist Tulare once the department is operational.
More information about Adventist Health Tulare services and the future of the obstetrics department is available at https://adventisthealth.org/tulare/.