U.S. senator works to expand access to rural Minnesota maternity care

CLOQUET, MN. (Northern News Now) -- For expectant mothers living in rural parts of Minnesota, access to maternity units is disappearing, forcing them to sometimes drive hundreds of miles to give birth.

In less than a decade, more than 200 maternity units closed across the United States.

Minnesota saw the biggest impact with 17 closures.

That’s all according to a study from health care consulting firm Chartis, which published the data in a recent report.

“Rural obstetric unit losses are a big deal. We know that they’re happening, we know they’ve continued to happen for decades now,” said Julia Interrante, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center.

Interrante said some reasons behind obstetric closures in rural communities include staffing and financing issues.

“If your community happens to be a community where a lot more patients are on Medicaid, it can be harder to maintain those services because the reimbursement rates are so much lower,” Interrante said.

Interrante said the lack of maternity care in rural areas can lead to many issues like pre-term births.

Minnesota’s U.S. Senator Tina Smith is working to address the problem.

“There are a lot of moms in rural Minnesota, but the problem is many of them have to travel long distances to be able to deliver their babies,” Smith said.

The senator recently visited Cloquet Community Memorial Hospital to observe a live birthing simulation demonstration.

She said it was important for her to secure funding to expand Rural Obstetric Simulation Training in order to help people in more rural communities like Grand Marais.

“It makes a huge difference because if you don’t have to travel a long distance, you’re much more likely to have good, healthy outcomes both for the moms as well as for the babies,” Smith said.

Smith believes better maternal care is important to improve communities overall.

“When people are deciding where they want to live, where they want to raise their families, having access to good health care, including maternity care, is central to that,” Smith said.

Smith helped secure $520,000 in federal funding for the Rural Obstetric Simulation Training Expansion, which she said will help healthcare providers keep up-to-date with skills in labor and delivery.

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