Hereford, Texas — With two young children and a child due in June, Kaylee Samulowitz has quite a bit on her plate, together with a priority most expectant mothers haven't got: whether or not she'll make it to the hospital in time.
Samulowitz lives in Pampa, Texas, a rural metropolis of 17,000, the place the native hospital closed its labor and supply unit. She'll need to journey about an hour to an Amarillo hospital 60 miles away to ship her child.
"We had a detailed name with my son, so it's a little nerve-racking excited about the subsequent one," she informed CBS Information.
Greater than 2 million ladies within the U.S. dwell in counties with no entry to prenatal care or obstetricians, what's referred to as maternity care deserts, based on the March of Dimes. Thousands and thousands extra dwell in areas the place medical assist is extraordinarily restricted.
Fewer than half of rural Texas hospitals ship infants. A scarcity of nurses heightened by the COVID pandemic has been one of many greatest components within the decline of maternity wards, although value can be a difficulty.
"A variety of rural hospitals are getting out of delivering infants. It is simply so costly," Jeff Barnhart, who runs Hereford Regional Medical Heart within the Texas Panhandle, informed CBS Information. "They only get to the purpose the place they need to decide on that."
Hereford Regional Medical Heart's maternity division is the one one for some 1,600 sq. miles. Barnhart stated the medical middle has to "go on diversion" for a part of the week due to staffing shortages, that means a girl in labor is typically taken by ambulance to a different hospital about 50 miles away.
As her due date nears, Samulowitz is on alert.
"Even when I feel it is labor, even when it may not be, we'll simply head that course," she stated. "Higher protected than sorry."
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