Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Evan Fonder (center right) and his wife helped lead a We Are Fosston campaign to try and recruit doctors and nurses with obstetrics training to the local hospital and prevent the permanent closure of its labor and delivery unit.
City leaders in Fosston, Minn., are prepared to take back control of their hospital if Essentia Health follows through on plans to permanently end scheduled baby deliveries.
Mayor Jim Offerdahl said the loss of baby deliveries would be profound for an isolated community on the northern border of the White Earth Reservation, but he has deeper concerns. The shutdown of labor and delivery units in small hospitals across Minnesota has led to an erosion of other medical services. In Fosston, Essentia recently stopped providing dermatology and started sending blood samples out of town for blood sugar tests, delaying results, Offerdahl said.
"Maybe some of these large health care organizations will pay attention and maybe rethink what they are doing," he said.
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