Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 11-4-21

Cut maternity and you ‘remove incentives for new families to set roots’

My name is Amy Scheim. I am a resident of Millerton, and my daughter was born at Sharon Hospital in July of 2021. On Sept. 29 I tuned in to Nuvance Health’s Zoom meeting to unveil their Sharon Hospital transformation plan.

To call this plan a transformation somehow gives one the impression that these changes are a positive thing, yet the biggest changes (the proposal to phase out labor and delivery and cut ICU and surgical services) are only transformative in the most negative way — eliminating vital services to the community.

I grew up in Oneonta, N.Y., and as a lifetime upstate resident, I know how important it is for rural communities to have access to quality medical care. Part of my and my husband’s interest in buying a home in Millerton was because of Sharon Hospital; we knew we could start our family with the resources of the hospital nearby, and felt reassured knowing that emergency care (if we needed it) was only 10 minutes from our home.

When I gave birth at Sharon Hospital this summer, the experience of the Labor and Delivery Department was unlike any other. The quality of care we received at the hospital was above and beyond what I could have expected. The care from the nurses and staff was truly wonderful, and I feel so lucky we were able to have our baby at Sharon Hospital.

Nuvance claims that there aren’t enough births per year to warrant keeping Labor and Delivery open. However, closing Labor and Delivery, along with cuts to ICU and surgical services, is a self fulfilling prophecy: to remove these services is to remove incentives for new families to set roots in the area and invest in the community in a multitude of ways, firstly by giving birth at Sharon Hospital. Labor and Delivery at Sharon Hospital is an asset that Nuvance needs to market.

If only more people knew of the high quality care, more families would make the choice to deliver at Sharon and invest in the surrounding community, as my family has done.

Our community is fortunate to have such an amazing Labor and Delivery Department, and to close it would be a disservice to the safety and health of the residents, not to mention a disservice to the talented doctors, nurses and staff who devote their time to caring for the families.

My family and I will attend the Save Sharon Hospital rally this Saturday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m. at the Sharon Town Green to support Sharon Hospital medical staff and to oppose Nuvance’s plan to close maternity and cut surgical and ICU services.

I hope others in the community will join us to show how much these vital services matter, and to voice opposition to Nuvance’s plan.

Thank you,

Amy Scheim

Save Sharon Hospital

Millerton

‘Priceless’ maternity ward should be promoted, not closed to community

My name is Karline Moeller and I gave birth at Sharon Hospital on June 17, 2021.

The maternity ward doctors and nurses of Sharon Hospital are an incredibly magical bunch. I met almost all of them, as I was in labor for almost 60 hours and then had a c-section — I arrived at Sharon Hospital on a Tuesday morning and did not leave until Saturday evening.

Over the course of those five days, my life changed completely. I went on the most important personal journey, that of becoming a mother, and to accompany me on that journey were the doctors and nurses.

It is quite difficult to put into writing how meaningful they were to me; their unwavering assistance, their knowledge and guidance, their insight and honesty, their warmth and compassion, their presence and positivity.

These words only scratch the surface in describing the angelic nature of everyone working in the Maternity Unit at Sharon Hospital.

If Nuvance shuts down the Labor and Delivery Unit, they will be robbing women and families from birth experiences like this. This kind of medical intimacy is priceless, and Nuvance should consider advertising and promoting this unit instead of closing it down.

I vehemently oppose Nuvance’s transformation plan, which would phase out Labor and Delivery along with cuts to ICU and surgical services.

Karline Moeller

Save Sharon Hospital

Millerton

Help save Sharon Hospital’s Labor & Delivery, ICU & Surgery Departments

Nuvance Health has announced plans to close the Labor and Delivery Department at Sharon Hospital, as well as to make drastic cuts to the Surgery Department and the ICU.

This closure will affect everyone in our community, not only if you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant. If Labor & Delivery closes, it will lead to further downsizing of Sharon Hospital. As the hospital will no longer be required to keep anesthesiologists and surgeons on call for births after normal operating room hours, there will be no more evening or overnight emergency surgeries. 

As more departments are cut to skeletal units or closed completely, we will be left with a glorified urgent care center that transfers emergent patients to other hospitals an hour away. 

The Labor and Delivery Department is a particularly outstanding unit that should not be shuttered. I gave birth to our first son in April of 2021 at Sharon Hospital. The nurses and doctors who cared for me there were above and beyond amazing and helped me through an otherwise complicated and scary experience. They made me feel comfortable and well cared for, and I was also extremely impressed with their progressive methods. Not only did they keep my comfort and safety foremost, they also chose the least invasive methods during my labor whenever possible. They had birthing balls and other props on hand for use during labor, and a massage therapist went door to door to see if any of the laboring women were in need of a massage. After delivery, they offer new parents a special “celebratory dinner.” Ours was delicious beyond hospital standards and a thoughtful touch. 

We are lucky to have such a fantastic facility in our area, and Nuvance should be marketing it, rather than trying to shut it down. Having a full-service hospital in our community is not only important for the health of every individual who lives here but is also key to attracting businesses and families to our area. 

A rally is taking place on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m. on the Sharon Town Green. My family will be in attendance and we hope you will join us, in speaking out against Nuvance Health’s proposed cuts to Sharon Hospital. The well-being of our community depends on it. 

Meredith Murphy

Lakeville

Save Sharon Hospital wants to save maternity unit for future generations living in the Tri-state region

This past week, Save Sharon Hospital gathered testimonies from families who recently delivered at Sharon Hospital. Responses poured in — heartfelt, intimate stories of profound experiences that were unique in their details, but one mother from Millbrook probably summed up the testimonies best: “It was an incredible experience for many reasons… but specifically because of the amazing support during my pregnancy and professional decisions [my doctor] made in terms of my baby’s and [my] health. I felt like I [was] his family.”

I felt the same way when I delivered my two babies at Sharon Hospital — the medical team there makes all patients feel like we are special, and not just numbers on a list.

Giving these testimonies to the nurses and doctors felt like the least we could do to thank and support them as once again their lives are upended as Nuvance threatens to close Labor and Delivery at Sharon Hospital, among other cuts.

In 2018 when the previous owner of Sharon Hospital, HealthQuest, merged with WHCN to become Nuvance, Connecticut permitted the merger with the stipulation that Nuvance agree to not close Labor and Delivery at Sharon Hospital for the next five years. Yet here we are, not even three years later, and Nuvance is planning to close Labor and Delivery, and considering cuts to the Surgical Service and the ICU.

Instead of drastically cutting vital health services, we ask Nuvance to use the remaining time to find long-term, sustainable solutions, working with community input.

One suggestion is to promote and advertise for pregnant patients. I have met several new mothers who weren’t aware that Maternity at Sharon Hospital is still open. Nuvance must also look outside the box, and as before, our group is here to help. 

During the pandemic surge in the spring of 2020, members of Save Sharon Hospital helped organize a large community project to sew homemade face masks, hundreds of which we donated to Sharon Hospital to help keep their employees safe when N95 masks were in short supply.

We also organized a meal train for Sharon Hospital employees to help lift their spirits. We were the masterminds and facilitators behind local schools submitting artwork from children that was placed on large banners to support Sharon Hospital staff. Our community has so much to give.

Save Sharon Hospital represents a diverse group of stakeholders across this community, and we want to work with Nuvance to find a long-term solution for our hospital. 

THIS SATURDAY, NOV. 6th, AT 3 P.M., we will gather on the Sharon Town Green in support of the medical staff at Sharon Hospital, while standing together to oppose Nuvance’s planned closures.

Scheduled speakers include elected officials from across our New York and Connecticut region. We will have petitions ready to sign, asking the state to hold Nuvance to its agreement. We ask everyone in the community to JOIN US! 

Lydia Moore

Save Sharon Hospital

Sharon