A global consulting firm will study the viability of a birthing center in the Windham Hospital area in Willimantic, as part of a state agreement following the closure of the hospital’s labor and delivery unit last year.
The state Office of Health Strategy (OHS) requires Hartford HealthCare’s Windham Hospital to conduct the study after the state on Dec. 1, 2023 approved the hospital’s plan to shut down its labor and delivery unit, which the hospital attributed to low birthing numbers. OHS had initially denied the closure.
But the hospital stopped birthing babies at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, joining a growing list of hospitals in Connecticut to close their birthing centers — Rockville General Hospital, New Milford Hospital and Milford Hospital.
The study will be conducted by Guidehouse Inc. If Guidehouse determines a birthing center is necessary in the Windham Hospital area, the hospital will be required to operate a center or find another provider to do so.
The feasibility study is expected to begin this month, with members of the public invited to participate in the process, according to state officials.
When OHS approved closing Windham Hospital’s birthing unit, the terms of agreement included that the hospital provide community access to prenatal and postpartum care. That included providing transportation for birthing families to the hospital where they choose to deliver and ensuring William Backus Hospital in Norwich maintains labor and delivery services, a Level I well-newborn nursery and expands its neonatal ICU beds. Windham Hospital was also required to establish a training program for certified doulas.
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