Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) at an EPA Press Conference on the Portland Waterfront. Several Years Ago.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME) is urging MaineHealth to preserve labor and delivery services at Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, warning that closing the unit would have far-reaching consequences for families, health care workers, and communities throughout the Midcoast.
In a letter to MaineHealth President and CEO Dr. Andy Mueller and Lincoln Hospital President Cindy McCarthy, PIngree acknowledged the challenges facing rural hospitals, while encouraging them to do everything in their power to keep the unit open.
“Lincoln Hospital has a long history of providing safe and quality care to maternity patients,” PIngree wrote. “I sincerely appreciate that there are structural challenges to the continued deliver of that care, but the consequences of a closure — on patients, hospital staff and the surrounding towns – could be devastating. I urge you to explore every possile avenue to preserve access to labor and delivery services in Damariscotta.”
She also raised broader concerns about the steady decline of maternity care across Maine, noting that the state has lost 10 birthing units over the past decade, while warning that continued closures could jeopardize the ability of famlies to live and raise children in rural Maine.
Maine has lost 10 of its 23 hospital-based labor and delivery units over the past decade. Nationally, a 2024 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 52.4% of rural hospitals no loger offered obstetric care in 2022, contributing to growing maternity care deserts across the country.
In the US maternal mortality remains far higher than in most other high-income countries with persistent racial and geographic disparities in outcomes.
PIngree acknowledged that addressing the crisis will require stronger federal support for rural health care — including protecting Medicaid, expanding the rural health care workforce and improving reimburement rates. She pledged to continue advocating for those priorities in Congress, while working with Maine providers to preere access to maternity care.
On Saturday, dozens of community members, health care providers, patients and local leaders gathered outside the MaineHealth headquarters in Portand to raise awareness about the impacts of the closure.
The MaineHealth Board of Trustees is expected to vote on the proposed this week.