WARREN – Labor and delivery employees at St. Joseph Hospital in Warren are responding to news that the hospital will permanently close its unit in early December.
Mercy Health made the announcement Wednesday, saying that the closure is part of an effort to expand labor and delivery services at St. Elizabeth Hospital’s Boardman campus.
Labor and delivery unit employees at St. Joseph said in a statement that the closure leaves them “heartbroken, shocked, and deeply concerned about what this decision means for the future of women’s healthcare.”
Their full statement can be read below:
Today, we learned that our Labor & Delivery unit will be closing. As employees who have dedicated our time, compassion, and careers to caring for mothers, babies, and families in our community, we are heartbroken, shocked, and deeply concerned about what this decision means for the future of women’s healthcare in our area.
Labor & Delivery is not simply another hospital department. It is an essential service that provides care during one of the most vulnerable and important moments in a woman’s life. Access to safe, timely maternity care can mean the difference between a manageable emergency and a life-threatening situation. When a woman is in labor, experiencing complications, or facing an obstetric emergency, every minute matters. Removing local labor and delivery services can mean longer travel times, additional barriers to care, and increased stress and risk for expectant mothers and their babies, particularly those experiencing high-risk pregnancies or unexpected complications.
This closure will affect more than the patients who deliver at our hospital. It affects entire families, expectant parents who have trusted this unit with their care, and a community that deserves accessible, dependable women’s healthcare close to home. We are deeply concerned about how this loss will affect access to maternity services, emergency obstetric care, and the overall well-being of women and families in the surrounding communities.
We also cannot ignore the human impact on the employees who learned this news today. Behind this announcement are nurses, physicians, and other dedicated healthcare professionals who have invested their skills, time, and hearts into caring for patients. Many of us have built meaningful relationships with the families we serve and have dedicated years of our lives to this work. To learn that the unit we care so deeply about will be closing is devastating. We are now left facing uncertainty about our jobs, our futures, and the next steps for our families, with little time to process what this means for us personally and professionally.
Our team has shown up for mothers and babies through difficult deliveries, frightening emergencies, joyful moments, and heartbreaking losses. We have supported families on some of the best and worst days of their lives. We know firsthand how important it is for women to have access to compassionate, skilled maternity care when and where they need it.
We recognize that healthcare organizations face difficult decisions, but those decisions have consequences that extend far beyond hospital walls. We urge hospital leadership and community leaders to seriously consider the long-term impact this closure will have on women’s health, maternal safety, and the families who depend on local care.
Our community deserves access to safe, timely maternity care. Our patients deserve a voice in this decision. And the employees who have dedicated themselves to this unit deserve transparency, respect, and compassion as they face an uncertain future.
This is not just the closing of a hospital unit. It is the loss of an essential community resource, and the effects will be felt by mothers, babies, families, and healthcare workers for years to come.
You can read more about the closure of St. Joseph Hospital here.