Damariscotta community members fight to keep birthing center open
Damariscotta’s Birth‑Center Fight: A Life‑Saving Decision Hanging in the Balance
Damariscotta, Maine – A seemingly ordinary November night in 2025 turned into a medical crisis for Leah Hurwitz and her husband, Jamie Wallace. When Hurwitz’s labor began at 2:30 a.m., the nearest hospital was just nine miles away, but the drive could have been far longer if she had tried to reach facilities in Brunswick or Rockport. The distance mattered: Veda, their daughter, arrived feet‑first, her head stuck, and lost oxygen for seven minutes. The newborn was airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she spent two weeks in intensive care.
For the family, the episode was a stark reminder of how critical a local maternity ward can be. “Her head got stuck on the way out,” Hurwitz said. “A lot of things went wrong.” She added, “This was literally life or death,” and confessed, “I don’t know if I would be here” without the Damariscotta hospital.
Now, three years later, the very service that saved Veda’s life is under threat. Lincoln Hospital’s board is slated to vote on whether to recommend closing its labor‑and‑delivery unit, with a decision expected to reach the MaineHealth system board by August. If approved, the closure could happen as early as December, forcing future mothers to travel up to 45 minutes to Brunswick or Rockport, or an hour to Augusta.
Staffing Shortages and Rising Costs
Hospital officials say the unit struggles to stay open. “None of us want to close labor and delivery,” said Cindy Wade, Lincoln Hospital’s president. “We are struggling to maintain this service. We haven’t had a full‑time OB/GYN in five years.” Dr. Timothy Fox, the hospital’s chief medical officer, explained that the facility is short‑staffed: at full capacity they would need four physicians and four nurse‑midwives, but they currently have only one part‑time OB/GYN and two midwives. To attract talent, the hospital has offered student‑loan repayment, signing bonuses, and relocation assistance—yet those incentives have not yet yielded results. “All of the solutions that they’ve come up with, we’ve looked at or tried already,” Fox noted.
Community Mobilization
The prospect of losing the birthing center has ignited a grassroots campaign. Three Lincoln County women—Margaret Reynolds, Moira Rose Richards, and Leslie Wolf—joined forces in May to form the Miles Delivers Action Coalition (named after the hospital’s former identity). The group quickly amassed thousands of petition signatures, organized a rally that drew hundreds despite a downpour, and packed public meetings, where attendees held a sign reading, “WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR COMMUNITY IF YOU CAN’T BE BORN HERE, YOU CAN ONLY DIE?”
Reynolds, who helps lead the coalition, said the response has been “overwhelming.” Wolf, pregnant with her first child and having moved to Damariscotta partly because of the hospital, warned that a closure would send a negative signal to young families. “It sends a powerful message when you tell people you can’t give birth here,” she said. “If labor and delivery closes, you are actively discouraging people from moving here. It turns into even more of a retirement community than it already is.”
Local business owner Hannah Meneses, manager of King Eider’s Pub, echoed the sentiment. She observed a shift in the town’s demographic, noting more young families at her restaurant than a decade ago. “We want to see the community grow,” she said. “We need more children here.”
Broader Context and Political Response
The Lincoln Hospital situation mirrors a statewide trend. Since 2015, Maine has lost 11 birthing centers, with three closing just last year. Births at Lincoln Hospital have fallen from 224 in 2006 to 131 in 2025, reflecting a broader decline in Maine’s overall birth rate, which dropped from 12,678 in 2014 to 11,783 in 2025.
Nationally, the closure of rural maternity wards has accelerated; research from the University of Pennsylvania shows 537 such units shut down between 2010 and 2022, leaving over half of rural hospitals without obstetric care.
Maine’s gubernatorial candidates all voiced opposition to the Lincoln closure. Democratic nominee Hannah Pingree said she would convene leaders and community members to develop strategies to keep birthing centers open, calling their loss “unacceptable” for young families. Republican Bobby Charles pledged to “vigorously oppose shutting any more birthing centers” and work to reopen those that have closed. Independent Rick Bennett emphasized the need to retain young families and preserve essential health services.
Future Uncertain
Supporters of the birthing center hope the hospital will delay any decision. Board member Les Fossel, who also opposes closure, urged MaineHealth to wait until at least the next governor takes office, suggesting that new policies could help sustain rural maternity services. “If it closes, families that would want to have babies here become more reluctant to move here,” Fossel warned. “We would become a way station to the cemetery rather than a vibrant community.”
For now, the fate of Lincoln Hospital’s labor‑and‑delivery unit remains in the hands of hospital administrators, board members, and the community’s determined advocates. Whether the center can survive staffing challenges and financial pressures, or whether the town will have to say goodbye to its maternity services, will become clearer in the coming months as decisions are finalized and the clock ticks toward a potential December closure.
