LewisGale Montgomery Closing L&D Department

I’ll keep this simple. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and by extension, Montgomery County is a growing community and needs an adequate number of labor and delivery beds to support not only Montgomery County but also Floyd, Pulaski, and Giles counties.

Lewis Gale Montgomery has just announced they will be closing their labor and delivery department in March of this year. The labor and delivery department is perhaps the most important department for a growing and youthful population. The hospital must be encouraged to keep this department open as younger families that move to the area look at three things before deciding to accept positions: 1, affordable housing (which really need to work… I suggest making it difficult for corporations to buy single family homes that then become airbnb or other rental properties), 2, adequate Healthcare, and 3, good schools. Of those three, Blacksburg and Montgomery County will only be succeeding in one category (schools) should Lewis Gale follow through with this plan.

The reality is if no one can afford to buy a house or give birth to a child without having to drive an hour to Roanoke because Carilion NRV doesn’t have enough beds available; businesses, jobs, and ultimately revenue will leave. This is also a rural health crisis. This will halve the number of labor and delivery beds that serve Montgomery County, Radford city, Pulaski County, Floyd county, and Giles County. Lewis Gale delivers 30 to 50 babies a month and the other departments in the area are often at capacity. Closing Lewis Gale Montgomery’s L&D department endangers lower income rural residents that have barriers to not only Healthcare but transportation.

Labor and delivery should be looked at like an emergency department. Sometimes women only have minutes before their baby is born, and possibly forcing them to drive to Roanoke is unacceptable!

Submitted by an area resident and new father