In the wake of Copley Hospital’s birthing center closure last November, several of its former midwives have launched a nonprofit to provide prenatal and postpartum care in Morrisville while working toward a freestanding birth center.
Green Mountain Birthing Center (GMBC), founded by Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Erinn Mandeville, is now seeing patients at the WING Center in Morrisville. The clinic offers gynecological care, contraception, annual exams, and prenatal and postpartum visits, but not deliveries, Mandeville said.
“The idea is that people who are left without obstetric services in Lamoille County and the surrounding areas will be able to get care with us to save them the drive to Burlington or Central Vermont Medical Center or St. Johnsbury,” Mandeville said.
Mandeville, who worked at Copley for five years, said GMBC’s long-term goal is to open Vermont’s first freestanding birth center in Waterbury by 2028. The center would serve low-risk patients and provide an alternative to hospital delivery or home birth. GMBC is currently credentialed with Medicaid and three major private insurers, with more in process.
The group’s formation comes amid a wave of rural hospital birthing unit closures. Brattleboro Memorial Hospital recently announced it would close its birthing center due to financial challenges, a move that drew a statement from U.S. Representative Becca Balint. “No one should have to travel farther or face more uncertainty to access safe, high-quality care during one of the most important moments of their lives,” Balint said. Copley cited similar financial pressures when it shuttered its unit.
Mandeville stressed that birth centers cannot replace hospitals. “We’re not going to replace these hospitals that are closing,” she said. “But we’re able to kind of fill a little bit of the gap that Copley left.”
NEK will be looking into the funding sources for GMBC and whether similar grassroots efforts are taking shape in the Northeast Kingdom to address the loss of local maternity services.
Photo: Eric Butler via Pexels. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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