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The Cleveland Clinic is closing the birthing center at its Medina Hospital in June, part of an effort to consolidate expensive labor and delivery services to three hub hospitals-- Akron General, Fairview and Hillcrest. Medina had seen falling numbers of deliveries in recent years, according to the health system, and many women already choose to leave the county for care in hospitals with a well-equipped NICU.

(Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Clinic is closing labor and delivery services at its Medina Hospital birthing center at the end of June, according to the health system.

The closure is part of the Clinic's overall strategy to consolidate labor and delivery services at three of its hospitals -- Akron General, Fairview Hospital on Cleveland's West Side and Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights.

With Medina's birthing center closing, there will be no other hospitals with labor and delivery services in the county, which has about 174,000 people.

Both Akron General and Fairview are roughly 35 minutes by car from the city of Medina, said Clinic spokesman Joe Milicia.

Obstetrical care will remain at Medina, and women will still be able to have all their pre-delivery appointments at the hospital. The hospital's emergency department is also equipped to provide for any emergency deliveries, as it always has been, Milicia said.

About two-thirds of expectant mothers in Medina County leave to deliver at hospitals with higher-level neonatal intensive care units, Milicia said. There are three levels of NICU certification available in Ohio, with the highest being a Level III.

Fairview and Hillcrest Hospitals are equipped with Level III NICUs. So are Akron Children's Hospital and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.

"I think it provides reassurance that whatever situation may occur, mom and baby will be able to be taken care of together," Milicia said.

The number of babies born at Medina's birthing center has been dropping, while other hospital services, such as surgery, have increased.

Births fell from about 1,100 in 2002 to about 880 last year. Surgical cases at the hospital have increased by 35 percent over the past five years.

Falling birth rates led to the closure of Marymount Hospital's maternity unit in 2011 as well. There, births had fallen 30 percent over the previous four years.

Last year, in contrast, the Clinic delivered 4,953 babies at Fairview, 2,828 babies at Akron General and 4,342 at Hillcrest.