LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Four months after Alta Vista Regional Hospital shuttered its labor, delivery and pediatric services with only six days’ notice to patients and providers, the Las Vegas region’s only hospital is still struggling to find medical staff needed to help pregnant women deliver babies close to home.
The investor— owned hospital has offered good pay, loan repayment and other incentives to attract a pediatrician and OB— GYNs to the town, to no avail, Alta Vista CEO R. Chris Wolf told the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee during a meeting this week at New Mexico Highlands University.
“We tried hard. We met with OB-GYNs about providing backup,” Wolf told the panel. “We had no takers.”
With the loss of its last two OB-GYNs and difficulty attracting new ones, the hospital has no choice but to keep the services closed, he said.
The continued closure underscores the difficulty in delivering full medical services in the far-reaching rural areas of New Mexico and other parts of the country. At a more personal level, it means pregnant women like Margarita Montaño, whose first child was born at Alta Vista, now have to travel more than an hour away to Santa Fe, Albuquerque or Raton to have their babies.
“I met with the provider in Santa Fe one time for 15 minutes. I’ll meet him one more time for 15 minutes before my due date, which must be by C- section. That’s it,” Montaño told the legislative committeeJuly 7 at hearings on the issue. “That means my daughter will be delivered by a highly recommended stranger. By that time, I hope to have built a strong 30-minute relationship with my doctor.”
From Montaño’s home in Anton Chico, it will be an 86- mile drive to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe to have her baby. It would be 117 miles to Albuquerque and 138 miles to Raton.
“It seems senseless when there is a quality facility 29 miles from my home,” Montaño said. “For high— risk pregnancies like mine and other expectant moms, the hardships and challenges continue to mount, including financial hardship. Food, fuel and accommodation are costly.”
