ThedaCare-Waupaca to close birthing center

hedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca announced last week that it will close its labor and delivery unit as of Feb. 15, 2025.

Among the reasons the hospital cited for its decision to close the unit were the declining number of deliveries, both locally and nationally.

Kellie Diedrick, vice president of critical access hospitals for ThedaCare, said in a press release, “We continually look for ways to adjust our services to meet changing patient and community needs. As the needs of our communities change, we change with them to provide the right level of care at the right place. We continually look for ways to adjust our services, and we evaluate all opportunities through the lens of our mission of improving the health and well-being of our communities.”

Diedrick told the Waupaca County Post that patients may still receive prenatal and postpartum care, but will be connected to other facilities for deliveries, such as ThedaCare Regional Medical Centers on Appleton and Neenah.

Patients in consultation with their physicians will determine their birth plans.

Dr. Zachary Baeseman is associate chief medical officer, family medicine with operative obstetrics for ThedaCare in Wild Rose and Waupaca. He estimated that at least 70% of women being seen by ThedaCare in Waupaca are choosing not to deliver here in Waupaca, but in larger, modern facilities,

He also noted how changing demographics affect rural hospitals.

“People are having less babies,” Baeseman said. He also noted the shortages of physicians and nursepraxtitioners in rural communities.

“We’re so lucky to have a critical access hospital here in a rural community,” Baeseman said.

He noted that ThedaCare is an integrated network that provides wraparound health care services for its patients.

Petition

A Waupaca obstetrician, Dr. Amy Mandeville, launched a petition, asking ThedaCare to reconsider its decision to close the obstetric unit at Waupaca hospital.

As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2,695 people had signed a petition to save the Waupaca birthing center.

The petition was posted on change.org.

“If the labor and delivery unit at ThedaCare Waupaca closes, there will be no hospital providing pregnancy care in a wide swath of central Wisconsin,” the petition says. “Our community members will need to drive up to an hour from their homes to receive maternity care. This is more than an inconvenience for our community. Research shows that lack of local maternity care increases rates of maternal and infant death.”

“We are concerned about women driving further to care and what this means for their health nd the health of their babies,” Mandeville said in an email to the Waupaca County Post. She noted that “a patient from Scandinavia who would be able to receive acute pregnancy care in Waupaca now will have to drive almost an hour to care rather than 15 minutes.”

According to a 2024 March of Dimes report, Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts, one in every 25 obstetric units in the United States closed in the last two years, “resulting in fewer choices, increased stress, and greater travel times for birthing people.”

ThedaCare-New London closed its labor and delivery services in December 2019.

In response to the petition, Cassandra Wallace, ThedaCare’s director of strategic communications, noted, “This was a difficult decision, and one that was not made lightly because of our dedication to the people we are privileged to serve. We appreciate the teams who are committed to caring for families in the Waupaca area.