GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Pregnant women on the West Side of Cincinnati have to go somewhere else for midwife services now after Seven Hills Women's Health Centers said they no longer offer those services out of their West Fork Road location.
"While this was a difficult decision, we are confident that this restructuring is the right choice for our practice," the center wrote in a statement. "Our main priority has always been and continues to be providing compassionate and high-quality care to the women in our community."
The decision by the center has been hard for some doulas.
"It was devastating,” Molly Thoms, a trained doula and childbirth educator, said. "From, I think last Friday through Sunday, there was a lot of, ‘What’s going on? Are the midwives actually leaving?'”
Thoms said some women are due in days and don't want to use an OB/GYN. The health center said, "We are actively assisting in transferring them to one of our other care centers including Anderson Township, Downtown, Mason, Batavia, or Milford."
“Mostly what I read and saw was women kind of scrambling and wondering what they’re going to do," Thoms said. "I really, really hope they land somewhere here on the West Side so that we have this option once again."
A demonstration is planned for Friday at 9 a.m. outside of the Seven Hills Women's Health Centers on West Fork Road. Thoms said she knows the demonstration won't bring midwives back; however, she hopes it shows how much the community misses them.
"Our goal," Thoms said, "is to spread awareness of the frustrations with, and really the celebration of the midwives, and how much we want them, how much we care about having that choice and that option provided to us and how devastated we are.”
