Portage County to no longer receive labor and delivery services

Portage County to no longer receive labor and delivery services

Expectant moms in Portage County soon will have to leave the county to deliver their babies after the only labor and delivery unit stops offering birthing services in November.

On Friday, University Hospitals announced plans to shift labor and delivery services from UH Portage Medical Center in Ravenna to UH Geauga Medical Center in Chardon.

The transition will take effect on Nov. 12, according to a release from University Hospitals.

An average of 1,350 babies were born to Portage County residents each year between 2017 and 2021, according to the Ohio Department of Health. It wasn’t immediately clear, however, how many of those babies were born at facilities outside the county.

When asked how many children had been born at the UH Portage facility in the past five and 10 years, Senior Media Relations Strategist Ansley Gogol responded: “The number of deliveries at UH Portage Medical Center have held reasonably steady since 2015, when the hospital joined the UH health system.”

https://www.record-courier.com/story/news/local/2022/09/23/portage-county-to-no-longer-receive-labor-and-delivery-services/69514368007/