Labor and Delivery Phasing Out at the Infirmary

Our ability to deliver the highest possible quality of care for patients while sustaining the viability of the ministry over time is a significant challenge for CHI St. Vincent and leaders across the healthcare industry. In meeting this challenge, our leadership team, board of directors and physicians spent many months developing a strategic plan that helps us ensure a bright future for our ministry while balancing the needs of all those we serve. To do that effectively, we must make difficult decisions about our ministry and the services we provide.

One of those decisions centers on the continued provision of labor and delivery services and NICU care at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock. Through careful discernment over the past several years – we have prayed about and sought alternatives to discontinuing these programs. In the end, we recognized these services are well provided by other organizations in central Arkansas. Therefore, over the next several months, we will phase out labor and delivery as well as NICU care at the Infirmary. Labor and delivery services will continue at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, and we will continue to grow that program in the southwest Arkansas community where there are few other options for care for pregnant women.

Going forward, the Infirmary will continue to provide other services for women through our comprehensive care network, including gynecology. Additionally, we are working through various partnerships to ensure covered labor and delivery services for all our staff who are or may become pregnant, as well as the appropriate level of newborn care their infants may require after birth.

Our nursing staff within labor and delivery and NICU departments will be offered opportunities in central Arkansas within CHI St. Vincent. It is now and will remain our priority to provide necessary support to all those who will transition out of their current roles because of this change.

Please join me in thanking our labor and delivery and NICU team members for their incredible service to our patients. While a difficult decision, this is an important step forward as our ministry adapts to address the challenges facing the healthcare industry and lays the foundation for a strong future for our ministry.

Sincerely,

Chad S. Aduddell
CEO, CHI St. Vincent