The Aspirus hospital in Ironwood is pictured. (Courtesy photo)

IRONWOOD — Upper Peninsula legislators expressed their frustrations this week regarding Aspirius Health’s announcement that it will discontinue OB/GYN services at its Ironwood hospital in December.

Wisconsin-based Aspirus Healthcare announced last Friday that it will be closing its labor and delivery services at its Ironwood hospital on Dec. 31. According to a Friday press release from the Michigan Nurses Association, Aspirus only informed OB nurses at the hospital of the plan on Friday morning.

“It’s totally outrageous that they spring this on the community and on a Friday just to take the heat off of them for a weekend,” said state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, in a Monday press release. “No one called or gave notice to any of us about this before it happened. This is now the second time they have sprung such a huge surprise on the U.P., along with other recent changes and failing to use the money from the state, undermining any credibility to their claims of caring about the future of our communities. The U.P. – bigger than at least six states – is left with six places to have a baby other than your home or car.”

The closure is the latest in a series of corporation cuts to health care services and facility closures in the Upper Peninsula. In 2023, Aspirus closed its Ontonagon hospital after previously-announced plans to construct a replacement facility. In a February 2024 letter to Aspirus CEO and President Matthew Heywood, U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, McBroom and state Rep. Greg Markkanen, R-Hancock, questioned Aspirus’ announced closure and consolidation of facilities.

The full letter from Bergman, McBroom and Markkanen to Heywood can be read in full online at bergman.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2.29_aspirus_health_letter.pdf.

“Last time, Aspirus lied to my face about Ontonagon being closed a few days later,” said Markkanen in Monday’s release. “This time, it was crickets from them about even needing help – something so many other, responsible businesses, schools and hospitals do. This closure is a betrayal of the people in my district by a company that has promised to provide services to them and received state dollars to do so.”

According to the Monday release, when Aspirus closed Ontonagon’s hospital in 2023, McBroom and Markkanen – with help from the rest of the U.P. team – were able to get over one million dollars to help the Ironwood facility’s OB/GYN services. The company has apparently never used the money. The closure left residents of Ontonagon, Gogebic and Iron counties with huge distances and state lines to cover for OB/GYN services – up to well over two hours in good weather for some.

“This is a very bitter pill to swallow,” said Rep. Dave Prestin (R-Cedar River.) “The west end of the U.P. continues to suffer from the carelessness and neglect of the state, and now a hospital that makes promises to the community but fails to deliver. The providers and governor asked for Medicaid expansion but now blame the program for their inability to succeed and demand more funding from taxpayers.”

“The people of the U.P. are determined to stay and strengthen their communities,” included Rep. Karl Bohnak (R-Marquette.) “We are all committed to finding a solution to this latest blow by helping the communities of the west end grow and prosper again so that such closures and betrayals are a thing of the past.”

Concerns surrounding cuts to Ironwood’s OB unit focus on the sheer distance that some will have to drive in order to receive OB care at another hospital or facility, which can be difficult due to the Upper Peninsula’s notorious winters and the lack of staffing and resources due to continuous healthcare cuts.

“Nurses are outraged that Aspirus is cutting even more health care for the U.P. and 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,” said Ashley Thompson, an OB nurse at the hospital, in Friday’s release. “Our emergency department nurses are amazing but they do not have the specialized training to deal with a problematic childbirth, when both lives are at risk. It’s just body blow after body blow by Aspirus, with no regard to the fact that they’re leaving our community without the care they need.”

In the northern part of the peninsula, Aspirus Keweenaw also shut down labor and delivery services at the end of December last year. The announcement of Ironwood’s OB unit closure closely follows Aspirus’ decision to eliminate nearly all Certified Nursing Aide positions at their Iron River hospital, with responsibilities being reallocated to charge nurses helping in the emergency and medical-surgical units.

“Aspirus should not be allowed to keep treating U.P. communities like our lives don’t matter,” Thompson continued regarding Ironwood’s announced OB closure. “Nurses want the best for our patients and most of all, we want to keep them safe. This is our community, too, and we won’t be silent in the face of Aspirus’s heartless cuts.”

The Mining Journal reached out to Aspirus Health’s Public Relations team for comment, but did not hear back before the publication deadline.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.