LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Come New Year’s Eve, the birthing ward at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital will deliver its last baby. The health system claims it simply cannot recruit enough doctors and nurses to keep the unit running.
The end of an era.
Despite receiving $1.2 million in the state budget for obstetric and gynecological care, according to the Detroit Free Press, Aspirus Health announced the labor and delivery unit will close Dec. 31.
The rural hospital, located on Michigan’s western edge near the Wisconsin border, has operated with just one full-time OB physician since June 2024.
“Despite years of aggressive recruiting, Aspirus has been unable to secure a full maternal care team in Ironwood,” the health system said. “Making 24/7/365 coverage unsustainable.”
A laborious commute.
The closure means expectant mothers will now face a 45-mile drive to Ashland, Wisconsin, for delivery—a prospect nurses warn is dangerous.
“We are extremely worried about women who will now have to drive another 45 minutes to Ashland or another Wisconsin hospital to have their baby—or those who end up in an emergency,” obstetrics nurse Ashley Thompson said.
U.P. lawmakers blasted the move, noting the region—larger than six states—is being left with just six places to give birth. “No one called or gave notice to any of us about this before it happened,” said state Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) in a September 8th statement.
An ongoing problem.
Aspirus insists no jobs will be lost, with affected employees shifted into other departments. Still, the cut adds to a pattern: the system closed Ontonagon’s hospital in 2024, cut obstetric care in Keweenaw, and trimmed nurse staffing elsewhere in the western U.P.
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Amy Zaagman of the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health called it “the perfect storm” of declining births, rural depopulation, and financial pressures. “Other rural hospitals might not be equipped to take the overflow, so there’s a horrible cascading effect where people can’t get care in their own community,” she said.