Six local lawmakers received colorful packages last week, each topped with a pink or blue bow, but they weren’t exactly invitations to a baby shower — though the cards they received had plenty to do with babies.

The decorative postcards — the work of the Maternity Care Coalition — demanded that mothers-to-be in Northeast Philadelphia have access to safe and affordable prenatal care and birthing options.

Responding to what has been described as a crisis in maternity care, largely because hospitals in the region have been closing their maternity units in recent years, members of the Maternity Care Coalition collected more than 400 of the postcards during a Nov. 29 town-hall meeting on the topic.

The cards were pegged for delivery to a total of 15 legislators.

Here in the Northeast, pregnant women and their families have been left virtually stranded as due dates approach, since all four obstetrics units that once offered care to women in the Northeast have been phased out.

In 1998, Nazareth Hospital closed its maternity unit. Parkview Hospital closed altogether in 2003, while Frankford and Jeanes hospitals closed their obstetrics units within the past 20 months.

As a result, the closest hospital obstetrics unit in the city is at Northeastern Hospital, at the very southern end of the Northeast. Einstein Medical Center and Temple University Hospital are located downtown. In the suburbs, Abington Memorial and Holy Redeemer hospitals in Montgomery County, and St. Mary Medical Center and Lower Bucks Hospital in Bucks County, have picked up some of the overflow patients with the closure of Jeanes Hospital’s maternity division last spring.

While suburban hospitals can be closer for some Northeast Philadelphia women, that reality truly exists only if they don’t have to rely on public transportation to reach them. Also, some hospitals don’t accept all managed care or insurance plans.

According to Letty Thall, director of research, education and advocacy for the Maternity Care Coalition, an organization started nearly 28 years ago in Philadelphia to provide support and programs to pregnant women, the idea of bringing MCC and lawmakers together for a discussion of the issues was proposed by Matt Taubenberger, Republican candidate for the 170th Legislative District of the state House of Representatives.

Last week’s meeting at the Tiffany Diner on Roosevelt Boulevard enabled MCC leaders to ask six area legislators — state Sen. Michael Stack (D-5th dist.), Rep. John Sabatina (D-174th dist.), and representatives for Sen. Shirley Kitchen (D-3rd dist.), Rep. George Kenney (R-170th dist.), House Speaker Dennis O’Brien (R-169th dist.) and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.) — to move forward on possible solutions suggested at the town-hall meeting two months ago.

They include opening a birthing center in Northeast Philadelphia; introducing legislation to permit the state insurance commissioner to raise reimbursement rates for maternal and child health services; and making insurance reimbursement rates for prenatal care, labor and delivery available to the public.
Though he considers it an uphill battle, Sabatina said that he and Sen. Stack are committed to improving the outlook for maternity care. Having a birthing center up and running within a year would be a good short-term goal.

"One thing we can do is request that money be allocated in the budget to take action as quickly as possible so the problem can be addressed," Sabatina said.
Gov. Ed Rendell delivered his budget address on Tuesday.

Al Taubenberger, president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and father of Matt Taubenberger, also pledged to meet with directors of the three major hospitals in the Northeast for their thoughts on reopening the maternity units.

"The need is unbelievably there," he said. ••