When the Delivery Room Goes Dark Part 2: Stories that Bring the Impact Home

As maternity services disappear across New Mexico, the human stories emerging from affected communities reveal what the numbers cannot.

// By Susan Dubuque //

The phrase “maternity care desert” has become shorthand for communities without birthing facilities or obstetrical providers. But Abigail Reese, PhD, a certified nurse midwife (CNM) and assistant professor at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing, challenges that metaphor.

Abigail Reese, PhD, CNM, and assistant professor, University of New Mexico College of Nursing

“Deserts are resilient, resourceful, and adaptive,” says Reese. They are ecosystems shaped by local conditions and traditions. When obstetrical services disappear, she argues, what remains is something different: a void with far-reaching implications for patients, families, providers, and entire communities.

A recent virtual forum brought together clinicians, midwives, community health workers, and others from three New Mexico communities that have lost hospital-based maternity services: Gallup, Las Vegas, and Los Alamos. They shared their stories in Voices from the Void: Lived Experience and Clinical Responses to Maternity Care Closures.

In Part 1 of this series, we examined the financial, workforce, and demographic pressures driving OB closures.

In Part 2, we hear from those directly affected by closures and learn how health care organizations adapt to maintain access and support patients and communities.

Continue reading to hear what these communities experienced. Their stories teach health care leaders facing difficult decisions about maternity services how to navigate.

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