{"id":387981,"date":"2026-09-02T06:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/387981\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T06:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:12:13","slug":"maine-will-not-solve-its-rural-maternity-crisis-one-hospital-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/387981\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine will not solve its rural maternity crisis one hospital at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Delivering Health Excellence\n <\/p>\n

Breadcrumb Navigation<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

The following opinion column was published in the September 1 edition of the Portland
\n Press-Herald in Maine.<\/p>\n

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM
\n September 1, 2026<\/p>\n

MaineHealth\u2019s decision to close the labor and delivery unit<\/a> at Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta is part of a larger trend endangering pregnant
\n women in rural America. Lincoln is slated to become the 12th Maine maternity unit to close<\/a> since 2015. It is one of close to 100 closures across the nation since 2024.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Maine needs to address this issue as a public health crisis that requires
\n a regional strategy, rather than as the latest in a string of individual hospital
\n closures.<\/p>\n

Preserving timely access to appropriate obstetric care keeps mothers and babies safer.
\n Recently, the March of Dimes released a report<\/a> showing that more than one-third of U.S. counties are now considered \u201cmaternity care
\n deserts,\u201d with no obstetric clinicians or birthing facilities. Pregnant women and
\n their babies in these areas face higher risks of death than pregnant women and babies
\n in areas with access to delivery care.<\/p>\n

To read the full opinion piece in the Portland Press Herald, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Return to article listing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivering Health Excellence Breadcrumb Navigation The following opinion column was published in the September 1 edition of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-387981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}