Bad news delivered
to maternity crew

By Diane Villano
Times Staff Writer

Mayfair native Kathie Babiarz has helped women in Northeast Philadelphia bring their babies into the world for about 20 years.
Babiarz, a registered nurse, started working in the delivery room at Frankford Hospital’s Torresdale Campus in 1987, enjoying a lengthy tenure until administrators there closed the maternity department last June.
Babiarz, however, recently made the move to Jeanes Hospital and its maternity division. But about three weeks ago, during her second day of clinical orientation at the Fox Chase hospital, she felt a very familiar jolt. Administrators at Jeanes — a member of the Temple University Hospital System — announced that obstetric services would cease with an end to the hospital’s Maternal and Child Health Program on May 31.
The closure is one of several moves being undertaken by the Temple system to address a major budget deficit.
Once again, Babiarz is on the chopping block.
"It was a hard blow. There are about ten to fifteen people from Frankford (Hospital) who work here. Everybody kept telling me how nice it is here," she said. "Some of them had been through this before when Parkview, Rolling Hill and various other hospitals had closed. There were so many (nurses) who could identify with us."
Though many of the nurses had heard those words before, nothing prepares you for making the move to another hospital only to hear again that your department will be phased out, Babiarz said.
"They’re in shell-shock," she said of her colleagues. "I kind of relive some of the feelings, but I think do we really want to stay in maternity? Do we want to see another maternity close?"
In a recent Times article on the Jeanes decision, the department chairman, Dr. Neil Isdaner, said the Maternal and Child Health Program employs nine obstetrical physicians, two certified nurse-midwives, 89 registered nurses, two licensed practical nurses, five obstetrical technicians and nine unit clerks. Those jobs would be lost with the demise of the maternity program.
Linda Grass, the executive director and CEO at Jeanes, also noted her regret over the decision to eliminate obstetrical care. The Temple University Health System had said it was dealing with a $17 million loss within its network in fiscal 2006.
Although Grass declined to discuss the financial loss incurred specifically by the maternity program at Jeanes, she and chief financial officer Gerry Oetzel did categorize it as "significant" in the March 1 article.
For Babiarz, it is disappointing to work for a second hospital whose maternity division will soon go out of business, but she doesn’t blame Jeanes.
"I was surprised that it was that quick, but looking at the needs of the hospital, it’s just like any family that has to budget," she reasoned. "They’re not out to make a profit, but they shouldn’t have to be in debt. You look at the area that is causing the biggest drain."
While those in the know cite many reasons for the fragile state of maternal and child health care in the nation these days, Babiarz agrees that the ever-looming threat of malpractice suits — and the costly premiums for insurance — is a big one.
"I don’t want to make this all about litigation," the veteran health-care staffer said, "but it is truly draining hospitals and physicians. Medical students are choosing not to go into obstetrics."
One of Babiarz’s biggest fears, she explained, is that "some poor pregnant woman is going to have a devastating outcome, either because she can’t get to prenatal care or because she can’t get to the hospital. It’s sad, so sad for the community."
While Northeast Philadelphia women may no longer have a neighborhood hospital to deliver their babies, especially as this trend intensifies, the problem is far from a Philadelphia one, Babiarz said.
"The entire city and suburbs need to see that it’s coming their way. As the (patient population) travels instead to their hospitals, what is it going to do as far as overcrowding?" she said, referring to the combination of more mothers-to-be and fewer hospitals offering services.
"What will happen once those hospitals get their share of litigation and increases in insurance? This isn’t just a Philadelphia issue. This is just the beginning," Babiarz added.
In a letter she has sent to the Times opinion pages, Babiarz urges everyone to contact their legislators and demand change. "I just want people to become aware and active," she said. "I know a lot is going on in the world, but this is our home and these are our families."
While it may be too soon for Babiarz to say where she’ll work next, she’d like to catch on with another maternity department. Dedicated to the families she cares for, Kathie Babiarz loves her job and doesn’t mind traveling to do it.
At the moment, she travels about 90 minutes each way between Jeanes and her home in Douglassville, Berks County. But the satisfaction of what she does always makes it worth the trip. ••
Reporter Diane Villano can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dvillano@phillynews.com