New Arrivals in the ER? Georgia Gears Up To Solve Rural Maternal Health Crisis

LAVONIA, Ga. — It had been a decade since Kara Holden last had a baby. But as the former obstetric nurse prepared for her fourth child, her head was swimming with contingency plans. The labor and delivery unit where she used to work in this rural northeastern Georgia community is no longer open. So, she asked former co-workers to be on standby around her anticipated due date. She and her midwife mapped out emergency rooms along the more-than-50-mile trek to the hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, where she planned to give birth. And, to prepare for a worst-case scenario, she curated items to keep in the car in case she went into labor en route. “That’s a horrible place to put a pregnant woman in,” said Holden, who on Oct. 11 made the painful, hourlong trip to Greenville Memorial Hospital to deliver her son Tucker. Holden lives roughly midway between Athens and Greenville, two of the nearest cities with labor and delivery units. Owing partly to Medicaid cuts from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia stopped providing obstetric services nearly a year ago. Its closure is part of a trend touching rural communities nationwi...