BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (WCAX) - Brattleboro Memorial Hospital said it plans to close its birthing center in the next six to nine months due to unsustainable financial losses. The birthing center delivers more than 200 babies every single year, and closure of the facility would force families to travel further.

Little baby Joyce is the newest member of the Kaufmann family.

“She is our fourth baby to be born here,” Annie Kaufmann said.

A proud moment for dad, her older siblings, and this 13th-generation Vermonter.

“What is more important is that she’s healthy and I’m healthy, and we are here in a safe place to have our care and have continuity of care,” Kaufmann said.

Down the hall, Kelsey Malloy is almost due. The Chesterfield, New Hampshire, resident chose this birthing center for all of her kids. “I love the small-town, small-hospital environment. It makes me personally feel comfortable,” Malloy said.

But the center’s future is in jeopardy. The hospital approved a plan to close the birthing center within six to nine months, citing low reimbursement rates from payers and insurers that support women’s health services. The projected loss for this fiscal year totals close to $5 million.

For registered nurse Lauren Kramer, the facility is a big part of the community. “A lot of the moms we care for here are people we see at the park, people we see in the grocery store, people that my kids go to school with,” Kramer said.

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