South Bay healthcare workers protest over maternity ward closure

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Healthcare workers took to the streets Saturday afternoon to protest the planned closure of the maternity ward at Scripps Mercy Chula Vista.

A handful of nurses and physicians gathered at Hotel Del Coronado where Scripps Foundation hosted an event for donors to make it clear that if the unit moves, babies and mothers would suffer.

"The closure of this unit will result in the creation of truly a maternity desert in the southwest corner of San Diego County," said Susanna Chou, a physician at the protest.

Last month, Scripps Health announced plans to dissolve the obstetrics unit there, pushing all labor and delivery up to Scripps Mercy Hillcrest. The unit has 30 beds and is known for its service to local minority communities.

"Eighty-nine percent of our patients are of brown color, they’re Hispanic of lower social economic status and babies of color matter to us," said Juliana Gonzalez, a registered nurse for labor and delivery at Scripps Mercy Chula Vista.

"Women come to us walking because we are so close to the trolley station," she added. "When you’re in labor, an emergency can happen within minutes. And if they’re planning to move to Hillcrest, that is 45 minutes away on trolley, public transportation and a women can die.”

Scripps Health said the Chula Vista location currently provides about 14% of the deliveries for mothers who live in southern portion of the county, and about 60% of women living in south county deliver at hospitals outside the South Bay.

By consolidating childbirth and postpartum services at its Hillcrest campus, Scripps will be able to make more beds available for other patients, including those from the ER.

"It leaves the emergency room doing their darndest to try to be there for women and infants coming in," said Chou. "But they are not obstetricians, they can’t do C-sections, they don’t have a full neonatal resuscitation team; this is a preventable disaster in the making. “

The Chula Vista facility will still be equipped to handle emergency child deliveries even after the labor and delivery unit is consolidated, according to Scripps Health.