November 8, 2019
The 2018 Chatham County Community Assessment stated that there were no child birthing centers currently in the county, and that the county ranked in the bottom quarter of North Carolina’s 100 counties for average distance between home and a hospital offering childbirth services. That’s all about to change thanks to the use of family physicians associated with UNC’s Family Medicine Residency Program. Chatham Hospital in Siler City will resume maternity care starting in September 2020. The hospital shut down its birthing care unit more than 20 years ago, but a shift in the national conversation about maternal care and a desire to provide more local healthcare has changed things. Today, more than 700 Chatham residents every year drive out of the county — an average of 25 miles according to the CCCA — to give birth in a medical facility.
Beginning later next year, maternity care at Chatham Hospital will be supported by family physicians conducting live births and Caesarean sections, with obstetricians on-call if needed. Read more online at the Chatham News & Record. Photo by Chatham News & Record