Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital labor and delivery unit closed

The final baby was born at Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital on Sept. 28, as the labor and delivery unit closed at the end of September.

Formerly Sewickley Valley Hospital, it was built in 1907. The first baby administrators could find a record for born there was in 1914, according to Norm Mitry, president and CEO of Heritage Valley Health System.

“This has been one of the most painful decisions we’ve ever had to make,” Mitry said. “When it comes to health care and birthing babies, change of events led us to make this decision.”

The closure was announced in March.

Mitry said they kept the unit open seven more months to give those with established pregnancies and scheduled to deliver by Sept. 30 the opportunity to deliver before the unit was shut down. Patients starting maternity care after March were informed they could continue to be at the office in Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital, but any deliveries occurring after Oct. 1 will happen at Heritage Valley Beaver, about 17 miles away from Sewickley.

Most of the mothers stayed to deliver, Mitry said. A main reason for the closure is the independent practice Premier Women’s Health accepted an offer and sold itself to Highmark in July 2014.

The physicians from that practice continued to deliver at Heritage Valley Sewickley Hospital until January 2021.

The acquired group also practiced initially at West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield until services opened up at Allegheny Health Network in Pine.

Losing the independent practice, combined with the 2020 pandemic, affected the healthcare facility financially, Mitry said.

“All of us are doing the best we can for our communities,” he said. “The pandemic had an effect on all healthcare facilities.”

The hospital board foundation assisted in supporting operations of the unit while the hospital attempted to grow the service back, said Linda Homyk, vice-president patient care services and chief nursing officer at Heritage Valley Health System, who has worked there for more than 40 years.

It became cost-prohibitive to keep the unit going, Mitry said.

“Healthcare is ever changing and ever challenging,” Mitry said. “Changes like this happen.”

At peak times in the late 1990s, the hospital would deliver more than 1,000 babies a year, Mitry said. The number decreased to just under 700 in 2019 and only 210 in the last fiscal year.

The office will continue operations on the first floor of the hospital and offer obstetrics and gynecological services.

There hasn’t been a decision on what to do with the space in the former labor and delivery unit, Mitry said

.

Many of the nursing staff will stay with the health system, some in labor and delivery and some in other units. Some have taken jobs elsewhere, Homyk said.

“Delivering babies is such a wonderful experience,” Homyk said. “We’ve gotten a lot of compliments about the care our nurses give to parents and babies. This is an emotional time for the moms we care for and for our entire staff.”