Julie Ball

jball@citizen-times.com

FRANKLIN - Some Franklin residents are "irate" over a Mission Health decision to discontinue labor and delivery services at Angel Medical Center, according to the mayor of Franklin.

Mission announced the decision earlier this week.

“I’ve been here since 1967, and I’ve never seen an uproar like what’s going on now,” Franklin Mayor Bob Scott said Thursday. “I think people feel betrayed by Mission because we’ve always looked at it as a community hospital, and the community was basically the last ones to know what was going on.”

Mission confirmed Angel Medical Center will end labor and delivery services as of July 14. However, Angel Medical plans to continue to provide “pre- and post-natal services, gynecological services, surgical procedures as well as preventive, routine and complex care for women of all ages,” Mission Health said in a news release.

It’s not clear yet where women receiving prenatal services through Angel Medical will deliver their babies. Mission says it will have a final plan in place by June. The health system will hold a press conference Friday to talk about plans for Angel Medical.

Dr. Adam Burrell, a family physician, said this week he was "shocked and saddened" by the news about labor and delivery services.

"I have been delivering babies for 18 years at Angel Medical Center. My youngest daughter was born at Angel Medical Center. Access to care in rural communities is essential to population health. I am concerned for the citizens of Macon County that this decision could negatively impact morbidity and mortality," Burrell said.

Burrell is an independent physician who completed an obstetrics fellowship. He grew up in Macon County and has been practicing medicine there since 1999. He estimates he’s delivered more than 1,500 babies.

Angel Medical Center “is in the process of exploring several options for transitioning these (labor and delivery) services to Mission Hospital in Asheville, where a quarter of all Macon, Jackson and Swain county women already choose to deliver their babies, or alternatively to DLP Harris Hospital in Sylva to ensure that patients have access to needed care,” according to the Mission news release.

Karen Gorby, president and CNO, Angel Medical Center, said Mission “is contemplating significant, new investments totaling as much as $46M for a newly built hospital and upgrades to existing facilities based upon a detailed analysis of our population, broad health care delivery trends and pending health policy changes."

"As part of that plan, we will be transitioning labor and delivery services from Angel Medical Center, looking to identify the optimal approach that reflects women’s existing choices and that will benefit our families in Franklin,” Gorby said in the release. “Our final decision will ensure that we have excellent labor and delivery services for our moms and babies combined with full-time, local pre- and post-natal care, gynecology services and other women’s health services in Franklin. We will share more information on the details of the transition of labor and delivery services in the coming weeks."

The decision to discontinue labor and delivery services at Angel Medical Center came "after an extensive analysis of AMC’s Women’s and Children’s services," according to the release.

In a response to questions from the Citizen-Times, Mission sent an additional statement from Gorby, Jane Kimsey, chair of the Angel Medical Center Board of Directors and Ronald A. Paulus, president and CEO of Mission Health.

That statement read, in part, "We understand and appreciate the concern expressed by some community members regarding Angel Medical Center’s decision to transition labor and delivery services to regional partners. We too, found this to be a very difficult decision, but based upon the analysis of our community’s long-term needs, women’s existing delivery choices, DLP Harris’s Hospital’s announced investment in labor and delivery, demographics and anticipated population changes, we firmly believe this decision is in the long-term best interest of our Macon County patients and families."

But Scott said Mission does not understand the community's attachment to Angel Medical Center. In 1971, the community rallied to save the hospital, according to Scott.

"It was to be a community hospital, and it appears now it’s anything but a community hospital," Scott said. "I’m very upset, and I’m doing everything I can as the mayor hopeful that Mission might reconsider this move."

The decision has "devastated Franklin," Scott said.

"What concerns me more is the attitude of Mission. They don’t seem to understand the community attachment to that hospital. That is not a profit center to us. That is something we rely on for our health and welfare. But now it’s beginning to look more like a profit center," Scott said.

Christa Juarez, 33, of Franklin, said Thursday she and her babies would not have survived without the labor and delivery services at Angel Medical.

Juarez has four children and three of the four deliveries were premature or involved complications. She said her first child was born at 27 weeks. He is now a thriving soon to be 13 year old.

“I barely had enough time to make it to Angel,” Juarez said. She worries how the decision will affect other women in Macon County.

Juarez has started a Change.org petition to keep birthing services at Angel Medical. The petition is at www.change.org/p/mission-health-keep-birthing-services-at-angel-medical-center.

Juarez said in 24 hours she’s received more than 1,000 signatures.

Harris Regional Hospital tried to reassure area residents following Mission's announcement.

“Representatives from Harris and Mission have made initial contact regarding this transition and Harris looks forward to collaborating with Mission to ensure that patients from the region, and Macon County specifically, receive the best possible care close to home,” said Steve Heatherly, CEO of Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital, in a news release Wednesday night.

The New Generations Family Birthing Center at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva, a Duke Lifepoint Healthcare hospital, is undergoing a $5.5 million renovation, according to the release. Nearly 20 percent of deliveries at Harris are to families living in Macon County, it added.