| Roane General Hospital and Roane County Family Health Care will discontinue in-patient obstetrical services after July 31, 2009, according to a press release issued yesterday.
The facilities have provided obstetrical services to Calhoun residents for many years.
"We've done everything we can do to preserve the program. It's just not possible anymore," said Larry Dent, chief executive officer at Roane County Family Health Care.
The reasons include declining volume, the aging of the local population and the difficulty of recruiting specialty physicians to rural communities.
Roane County Family Health Care once had three physicians and one midwife who could deliver babies at Roane General Hospital, but by July, it will be down to one such physician, Dr. Carroll Christiansen, and a certified nurse midwife, Susan Cheek.
Dr. James Murray, an obstetrician-gynecologist, plans to leave Family Health Care on June 30.
"Dr. Christiansen is a phenomenal asset for our hospital," said Dick Bowlby, chairman of the hospital board of directors.
"We could not have continued delivering babies as long as we have without him. Deliveries might have ended four or five years ago if not for the dedication of Dr. Christiansen," Bowlby said.
Roane General and Family Health Care will continue to offer prenatal services and will work closely with patients to help them make arrangements for deliveries.
"The hospital and Family Health Care have worked together on delivering babies since 1983, and it has been a good marriage," Dr. Christiansen said.
Births at Roane General declined from a peak of 189 in 1991 to 98 in 2008.
Hospital and clinic officials believe that about 50 percent of the deliveries to patients from Roane General's service area of Roane and southern Calhoun counties are made at hospitals other than Roane General.
Five nurses will be affected by the closure of Roane General's Obstetrics Department. All of them will be offered the choice of a severance package or reassignment to another nursing unit.
"It has been a wonderful ride for many families," Dr. Christiansen said. "I have nothing but the utmost respect and appreciation for the work that staff members have provided families whose babies were delivered at Roane General."
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