![\"Directional](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Copley-1200x899.jpg\")
Copley Hospital in Morrisville. Courtesy photo<\/p>\nCopley Hospital in Morrisville. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n
Through October, Kipp Bovey and her fellow nurse midwives closely tracked the patients whose due dates would come close to the Nov. 1 closure of the birthing center at Copley Hospital in Morrisville. They wondered who might be the one to see the final baby born before the center shuttered. When the last mother began her labor, it was only fitting that Bovey, as the nurse midwife who had worked there the longest, was the one to deliver the baby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a blessing, and also tragic. And in the way that birth can be, it was so beautiful,\u201d Bovey said, overcome with emotion at the significance of the moment.<\/p>\n
Then, she immersed herself in the work as the birthing began. \u201cThe emotional piece of it got lost, because we were doing the work, and we were keeping people safe and healthy, and then it was done.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t When that last birth ended, so too did the nearly 100-year history of birthing at Copley Hospital after months of debate and efforts to preserve the beloved program.<\/p>\n As of Nov.1, not only has birthing ended at Copley, but so too has any prenatal and postpartum care, despite its statements made as recently as mid-October<\/a> that those services would continue locally. On Nov. 7, a representative from Copley confirmed that at least for now the care is no longer available.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hospital said it has laid off the equivalent of 14 full-time staffers, including its three full-time nurse midwives, the part-time nurse midwife staff and its two obstetricians. The labor and delivery nurses have left for other hospitals, retired or been reassigned elsewhere in the hospital. The on-call pediatrician, too, is no longer retained, the hospital confirmed, meaning that person will no longer be able to consult on cases involving newborns and infants who come to the ER.<\/p>\n In June, the hospital\u2019s leadership announced its decision<\/a> to close the birthing center, citing low birth rates and high costs of keeping the service. A report produced by an independent consultant informed the hospital\u2019s final decision. Birthing, which is widely considered<\/a> an unprofitable \u201closs-leader\u201d for hospitals, was costing the hospital an estimated $3.7 million a year, or $15,000\u2013$30,000 per birth, according to the hospital.<\/p>\n Already, at least one other Vermont hospital, Northeastern Medical Center, in St. Albans, has confirmed that it is also looking at changes to its obstetric services due to a tight budget. The hospital\u2019s board is considering a task force\u2019s recommendation that NMC partner with an external organization to continue births and provide OB\/GYN services at the hospital, the hospital\u2019s spokesperson Kate Laddison confirmed to VTDigger.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fact that not very many babies are born at Copley, or in Lamoille County in general, has remained one of the hospital\u2019s primary reasons for explaining the decision to close. For the 10 months of 2025 before the birthing center\u2019s closing, Copley had 127 births. Since 2018, the hospital had seen around 160 births a year<\/a>. Fewer than 50% of the births that happen in Lamoille County occur at Copley, the hospital cites.<\/p>\n Still, many feel that volume should not be the determining factor for something they feel is essential care to provide at a community hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cObstetrical care is, like, the one [part of] health care everyone uses at least once in their life. If that\u2019s not essential health care, I don\u2019t know what that is,\u201d said April Vanderveer, one of the nurse midwives who had worked at Copley.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Magical thinking\u2019<\/p>\n Since the June announcement, Copley Hospital\u2019s executives have engaged in a terse back and forth with the state\u2019s health care regulator, the Green Mountain Care Board.<\/p>\n During their September budget decision, care board members requested more information from the Copley administration about the closure decision, and noted the hospital\u2019s inability to comply. The transparency of the consultant\u2019s report became a particular point of contention, with Copley agreeing to share it with the regulator only under the condition of confidentiality.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the hospital submitted responses to the care board\u2019s August questions<\/a> in a letter dated Oct. 17. Yet the report itself still remains inaccessible.<\/p>\n In the unsigned October letter, Copley writes that it \u201cis collaborating with nearby hospital(s) to continue to provide prenatal and postpartum care locally along with continuing to provide care for their current gynecology services while providing navigation for birthing families to deliver at partnering hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n Carole Ferrante, Copley\u2019s interim chief operating officer, confirmed to VTDigger that the hospital is not currently providing those services. However, staff have been in \u201cclose communication\u201d with University of Vermont Medical Center, in Burlington, and Central Vermont Medical Center, in Berlin, about having a satellite pre- and post-natal clinic at the Morrisville hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n Such a program is still in its nascent stages. \u201cThose talks are just ongoing with them. They have their own challenges they are working through,\u201d Ferrante said in a Nov. 7 interview. \u201cThey are just trying to work through the details to see if they can make a program like that viable.\u201d<\/p>\n Former birth center staff have doubts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no prenatal care happening or any plan to provide prenatal care in Lamoille County at this time,\u201d Vanderveer said. \u201cThey can say that they want it to happen, but that\u2019s magical thinking, because no one is doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferrante also added that though the hospital contacted Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, in St. Johnsbury and North Country Hospital, in Newport, neither community hospital was interested or able to take on a satellite service at Copley.<\/p>\n At Copley, both the hospital and the midwives, who collected patient data, expect nearly 40% of Copley\u2019s patients will move their care to the University of Vermont Medical Center, while about 20% will go to Central Vermont Medical Center. Another 10% is likely to go to Gifford Medical Center, in Randolph, and another one-tenth will go to Northeastern.\u00a0<\/p>\n On average, patients will see a nearly 20-minute increase in drive times to reach care at any of these other hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat that means is people who are well-resourced and can drive to Burlington or Montpelier or St. Johnsbury, will for prenatal care,\u201d said Vanderveer.\u00a0<\/p>\n She worries about the people who can\u2019t take the time out of their work schedules to drive long distances for frequent prenatal appointments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not going to get adequate prenatal care. They are going to have higher risk pregnancies that are going to have complications that are going to be further along,\u201d she explained. \u201cIf they get diabetes in pregnancy or high blood pressure, they\u2019re not going to know about it until it\u2019s extremely complex and that there is real risk involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A maternity care desert<\/p>\n With Copley\u2019s closure and the 2022 closure<\/a> of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Hyde Park, Lamoille County has become a maternity care desert<\/a>, with no hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two gynecologists will remain at Copley, though Vanderveer adds that their responsibilities should encompass more complex reproductive care needs, rather than the day-to-day primary care that the midwives provided. In addition to birthing, nurse midwives\u2019 services span a broad scope of reproductive health care: They insert IUDs, screen for STDs, help patients navigate menopause and more.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge loss that I don\u2019t think people even realize goes beyond just the birth piece,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In an August study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology<\/a>, researchers found that living in a maternal care desert, which they define as a county without obstetric care, was significantly associated with higher maternal mortality and pregnancy-related death, after analyzing more than 14 million live births between 2018 and 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNinety-five percent of the time [child birth] is totally straightforward, and you don\u2019t need us [clinicians], but the 5% of the time you do, then it\u2019s life saving,\u201d Vanderveer said. \u201cPeople do die in childbirth, and babies die.\u201d<\/p>\n Copley\u2019s own report to the Green Mountain Care Board cited three studies assessing distance from hospitals and maternal outcomes. A Pennsylvania-based study<\/a>, also published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, was \u201cthe most applicable\u201d out of the three, Copley wrote in its letter. They say that the study found a \u201cstatistically significant relative risk of maternal and newborn adverse outcomes when travel distances exceeded 50 miles.\u201d In fact, the study actually found adverse impacts became more likely at distances starting at 37 miles, becoming an increasing risk factor at 49 miles.<\/p>\n The two<\/a> other<\/a> studies cited specifically in the letter both detail more risk found for both mothers and babies with increased driving time and distance. Copley\u2019s letter notes one study found no associated risk, but which one is not clear.<\/p>\n In reference to the Pennsylvania study, Copley calculated that about 12 patients each year will have to travel more than 50 miles to the next closest hospital to deliver their babies. They did not specify the number of patients who would need to travel those shorter distances.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision was extremely difficult, and it is sad for the community. We recognize that it\u2019s sad for us as well to have to let go of a service like this,\u201d Ferrante told VTDigger. \u201cIt is a very difficult thing to do when you\u2019re looking at the future of the hospital and maintaining its presence in the community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Birth in the ER<\/p>\n In 2024, the state commissioned the consulting firm Oliver Wyman<\/a> (as part of the 2022 state law Act 167) to report on the financial sustainability of Vermont\u2019s hospitals. That report tackles the issue of low-volume care that rural hospitals all across the state are dealing with, in birthing and beyond. It outlines a vision for consolidating lower-volume care into regional \u201ccenters of excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Copley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Copley-Birthing-Center-Morrisville-1200x900.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n