Fact Sheet
Midwives & Lactation Services is a women’s health services clinic located within the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital campus. Its certified nurse midwives provide women and families with a spectrum of holistic healthcare including pregnancy care, well-woman checkups, lactation support, menopause services.
McKenzie Midwives’ labor and delivery services are provided at the Birthing Center at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center. This arrangement offers patients the expertise of a midwife combined with access to advanced care and technology if needed.This model of care allows birthing parents to be cared for throughout pregnancy, delivery, and beyond by the provider of their choice. No other women’s care provider in the Eugene-Springfield area guarantees that a mother’s chosen caregiver can provide her care in a hospital.
McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center announced on April 11 that McKenzie Midwives will close on July 7. This decision was made without any consultation with the practice’s staff, clients, or the larger community. In a public statement, the hospital justifies its decision by noting that “there are now several options for midwifery services” in the region. This is true. But none of these options makes it possible for a mother’s chosen provider to attend her birth in the hospital.
The Community Health Centers of Lane County’s January 2021 decision to close its midwifery and lactation clinic exacerbates the gap in women’s care that is bound to result from the closure of McKenzie Midwives.
McKenzie-Wilamette’s abrupt decision to close its midwifery clinic will have the following results:
● Over 80 currently pregnant mothers will have to find new providers.
● Dozens of nursing mothers will lose lactation support.
● Over 100 current clients who are accessing other types of care will lose their chosen providers.
● Six highly trained nurse-midwives will lose their jobs.
● Five other clinic staff members will lose their jobs.
● Options for high-quality, low-intervention holistic women’s health care will diminish.
Birthing parents in the Eugene-Springfield area deserve to have a choice about how and with whom they give birth. McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center should honor the promise it made to currently pregnant women who chose the clinic’s midwives as their providers.
If you would like to communicate with McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center about their decision-making on this matter, contact Robyn French at 541-345-2205 or rfrench@qhcus.com
For media inquiries, please contact Jana Waterman at 541-744-6167 or jwaterman@qhcus.com