St. Margaret’s-Peru closing, leaves hundreds of expectant mothers with questions
Close to 700 women were scheduled to give birth at the facility prior to the announcement
PEORIA (25 News Now) - Blaming “financial problems brought on by COVID, paying for traveling nurses and a cyber-attack,” the CEO of St. Margaret’s Health apologized for giving the City of Peru only days to absorb the news that the hospital is closing.
Certified Professional Corporate Compliance Officer and former employee of St. Margaret’s Healthcare Systems says, “a lot of companies might bring in a 3rd party to facilitate the closure notification and facilitate patients’ questions and things like that. That’s where you talk about severance packages and things like that. There needs to be a proper handoff and a proper transition and there’s not one here.”
People in LaSalle County found out via social media Friday afternoon, the Peru hospital is closing this Saturday, January 28 at 7AM.
“Community is not going to be happy about it at all. I’ve already seen posts on Facebook about people not happy about it, especially people having kids,” says Mark Moedinger, who lives in LaSalle.
Lauren Mongan, who is 32 weeks pregnant says, “I don’t even know if I have a doctor at this point.”
The hospital will make arrangements for expectant mothers like Mongan to deliver their babies in one of these three locations, all at least a 30-minute drive from Peru.
Registered Obstetrics Nurse Vanessa Thomas, says close to 700 soon-to-be mothers had deliveries scheduled at St. Margaret’s Peru location, 90 of whom were planning to have those babies before the end of February.
“That’s (left) many moms and babies without an option for care when they already established care with us who planned to deliver in Peru. That’s not okay with me. That’s not okay with my team.”
“Are they going to continue to see the patient? Do we need to find somewhere else to deliver? Is my doctor going to deliver my baby? Is my doctor still my doctor? There are so many questions right now about what’s going to happen to me,” questions Mongan.
Copyright 2023 WEEK. All rights reserved.
