Plan to close maternity ward in eastern Kern reflects troubling national trend

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Plan to close maternity ward in eastern Kern reflects troubling national trend

BY JOHN COX jcox@bakersfield.com
Dec 23, 2023
Dec 23, 2023

20190706-bc-earthquake — Ridgecrest Regional Hospital
The Californian, file

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A health care crisis plaguing rural America has arrived in Kern County with the upcoming closure of Ridgecrest Regional Hospital's maternity ward, a move that will force expecting mothers to travel more than an hour each way to get specialized obstetric care.

The medical center's announcement this month that it will lay off 29 employees in February and March makes it the latest of dozens of hospitals in California, and hundreds across the country, that have been forced to shutter their labor and delivery units.

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Ridgecrest Regional Hospital plans additional layoffs, hopes to avoid closure

The federally designated critical access hospital in Ridgecrest notified Kern County authorities last week that "continued financial hardships…

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