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Mom-to-be Stephanie Zuroski hopes she recognizes the signs of labor quickly, because the hospital where she plans to deliver her first child is more than an hour from her home in rural Elk County, Pennsylvania.
Elk County is about 2½ hours outside Pittsburgh, nestled at the edge of the Allegheny National Forest. Zuroski grew up on a farm and is familiar with the tradeoffs that come with rural living.
“I am accustomed to driving to get the things that I need,” said Zuroski, 32.
What she didn’t expect was the lack of labor and delivery units in the county, which means she’ll have to drive out-of-state to give birth in a hospital.
“When I started looking into pregnancy and [obstetrician] care, I was shocked local hospitals weren’t delivering babies,” Zuroski said.
Traffic passes the publicly owned Greenwood Leflore Hospital, in Greenwood, Miss., Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. The hospital announced the permanent closure of its labor and delivery unit, saying it can’t pay competitive wages to nurses. The closure means the area’s women will need to travel about 45 minutes to give birth at a hospital, and without focused hospital support, the city’s only OB/GYN clinic could struggle to provide maternity care. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Rogelio V. Solis/AP
In February, the Penn Highlands Healthcare hospital system announced that it was “realigning services” and moving labor and delivery services from Penn Highlands Elk — the only hospital in the county — to its sister hospital Penn Highlands DuBois, about 30 miles south in Clearfield County, on May 1. The shift limits maternal health care options in the area, and could raise the risk of people delivering in riskier conditions — even at home or in their cars.
New and expecting mothers would still be able to get scans, tests and exams at Penn Highlands Elk, but they will no longer be able to deliver there.
“For Penn Highlands Healthcare, this transition is about quality and reducing risk and not finances,” the health system said in a written response to CNN.
The hospital in DuBois has the only neonatal intensive care unit within 100 miles, according to Penn Highlands Healthcare, and is staffed to handle high-risk deliveries.
“The transition is designed to offer a higher level of care for mothers and newborns,” the health system said in a news release.