Rural Maternity Wards Are Closing, And Women’s Lives Are On The Line

Until two years ago, each of these communities had a labor-and-delivery center nearby. But in 2015, Mission began to close them. First, it was a unit at the Transylvania Regional Hospital in Brevard, servicing nearly 33,000 residents. Then in July 2017, Mission shuttered labor and delivery at Angel Medical Center in Franklin, affecting about 40,000 people in Macon County and surrounding counties. At the end of September, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital of Spruce Pine will also lose its labor-and-delivery unit, affecting the 33,000 people in Mitchell and Yancey counties who rely on that hospital.