Providence indicates May 1 closure of Petaluma Valley Hospital’s birth center

Despite promises that they’d never do it — and a contractual obligation to keep it open until 2026 — the owners of Petaluma Valley Hospital have indicated to hospital staff their plans to at least partially close Petaluma’s Family Birthing Center beginning May 1.

In a letter to nursing staff dated March 29 and signed by human resources executive Kristina Holloway, Providence — the health care company that purchased Petaluma Valley Hospital in 2020 for $52.6 million — said it intends to implement a “permanent work reduction” due to an inability by the company to properly staff the unit.

“Despite the best efforts by Providence and the local physician community to support the Family Birthing Center at Petaluma Valley Hospital, recruit new physicians and secure obstetrics anesthesia services, we have not secured permanent coverage to meet our high standards of safety and patient experience,” the letter states.

“Therefore, this letter serves as formal notice that effective May 1, 2023, the Family Birthing Center unit will be on a Permanent Work Reduction (PWR) due to a reduction in work available for (Petaluma Staff Nurse Partnership) Nurses. The bottom line is that it is not safe to keep the Family Birthing Center open if it is not appropriately staffed, resourced and ready to deliver babies 24/7.”

For the nursing staff, “each individual who will be affected by this change” will be given the option of transferring to another open nursing position at Petaluma Valley Hospital, or to the obstetrics department at either Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital or Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, the latter says. Both of those hospitals are owned by Providence.

“Should a PSNP Nurse decline each of the three options above and not move into another position within our organization, the Nurse’s employment will be terminated, and the RN will not be eligible for any type of severance,” Providence added in the notice. “The effective date of termination will be May 1, 2023.”

The designation of “permanent work reduction” is not necessarily an official closure by Providence, said Jim Goerlich, a Petaluma Valley Hospital nurse and president of the Petaluma Nurse Staff Partnership. But it does mean the birthing center will no longer be full-service — and Goerlich said his group is against the reduction and removal of obstetrics staff “as they should remain in-house if anything for safety support for OB-related emergencies that come into the ER.”

Goerlich called the company’s intentions to terminate or transfer obstetrics professionals “a gross abuse of the trust the community put in Providence,“ and he added, “The fact that Providence had a major hand in creating the staffing shortage is for the lawyers to bring forward in trial,” should there be legal action.

Neither Providence executives nor leaders from the Petaluma Health Care District were immediately available for comment Thursday.

In the months leading up to the 2020 sale of the hospital, Kevin Klockenga, chief executive of local Providence affiliate NorCal HealthConnect, told the Argus-Courier that their purchase agreement with the Petaluma Health Care District stipulated keeping the OB unit open for a minimum of five years after purchase. He said his company would reevaluate the service closer to 2025 to see if the birthing center was still viable at that time.

“We’re not in any way saying we will only operate OB for five years,” he said in October 2020. “We certainly hope we will operate it for 100 years. The challenge is predicting the future.”

Providence nonetheless announced plans to close the Family Birthing Center late last year, citing an inability to properly staff it. The announcement led to sharp rebukes from health care district board members — with Cheryl Negrin, for one, telling Laureen Driscoll, Northern California region chief executive for Providence, "I can’t trust you at all“ – followed by a vote by the board rejecting Providence’s proposal to close the birthing center.

Medical professionals say shuttering the obstetrics unit would strain Petaluma’s emergency room while leaving a large region of the North Bay without any dedicated hospital birthing services, creating a more dangerous situation for expectant mothers, especially low-income mothers.

Amelia Parreira is a staff writer for the Argus-Courier. She can be reached at amelia.parreira@arguscourier.com or 707-521-5208.