Save the North Shore Birth Center!

I just received an email from Jennie at Crunchy Granola Baby (Salem, MA). Apparently there is a proposal to close down the North Shore Birth Center at Beverly Hospital. While I didn't give birth there, I know how valuable the Birth Center is. It would be a tragedy to lose such an important place. Here is the body of the email that I received (you can also join the cause on Facebook):

Immediate Action is Needed Dear Friends,
The North Shore Birth Center has provided all of my birthing care, including pre and post natal, and they continue to provide me with superb care. It is the perfect place to plan for a natural, unmedicated birth, in the care of compassionate, capable midwives. It is a safe place to have a "home like" birth. That may change, the Birth Center is in danger and needs our help.Please advocate for our right to choose where we would like to birth. I am asking you to share your Birth stories and experiences about the North Shore Birth Center with the Northeast Health System's Board of Trustees. They need to know how much the center means to so many of us and how having the center allowed so many of us the opportunity to have the birth we desire. Lets let the Board know how important the Birth Center is to all of us by sharing with them our own Birth experiences.

Thank you,Jennie and Tommie
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Save the Birth Center!!!
There is a very serious move to stop all births at the North Shore Birth Center. It is being recommended to the Board of Trustees of Northeast Health Corporation that all birth center patients be required to labor and birth at Beverly Hospital. NSBC would continue to provide Gyn and prenatal care at their current site. On November 18th there will be a proposal to the Board of Trustees of Northeast Health Corporation to no longer allow women to labor or birth at the North Shore Birth Center. The North Shore Birth Center was established in 1980 to meet the needs of 'low risk women' wanting an alternative to home and hospital births. Since then the North Shore Birth Center has birthed over 6,494 babies, providing quality, low cost, compassionate care in an alternative setting. Letters in support of the North Shore Birth Center can be sent to your local paper and to:
Northeast Health System's Board of Trustees
c/o Mary Ellen Lear, Secretary
Beverly Hospital
85 Herrick Street
Beverly, MA 01915
For more information contact Pav Kneedler at Kneedlerpd@comcast.net