River Falls Area Hospital makes tough decision to close birthing center

[KMSP Fox 9, February 10, 2020]

River Falls Area Hospital located in western Wisconsin has delivered babies for more than 30 years, but come April, the birthing center at the hospital will shut its doors.

It’s not the first rural hospital in the country to cut maternity care, and according to one researcher, it likely won’t be the last. The hospital announced the closure earlier this month, citing the end of a partnership with a Hudson, Wisconsin physicians group, which provided the doctors that delivered babies there for several years.

“It’s not easy to do something and make a decision like that when you have been delivering babies in a hospital for over 30 years,” said River Falls Area Hospital President Helen Strike.