Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka expanding labor and delivery services

Providence St. Joseph Hospital leaders gave us a tour of the labor and delivery department which is undergoing an expansion right now.

“We’ll have nine postpartum rooms, five labor rooms to support the [patients] that we’re about to have,” said Michelle Harrison, director of Nursing at St. Joe’s. “We are reaching out to the community, but we’re also bracing for impact here and working with our own caregivers, our nursing staff who actually do the work, figuring out how we’re going to increase our volume and do that safely, with the community.”

 “We do have an open house, and that is September the 28th, and we want our birthing mothers in the community to be able to come in and spend some time with us,” said Harrison.

Pregnant mothers have been concerned about the closing of Mad River Hospital’s labor and delivery department, wondering if Providence St. Joseph Hospital would be able to meet the county’s needs. That’s why leaders welcome people to see it for themselves. 

“We will go over our rooms, our processes. We will show you how we welcome doulas, because we love to have doulas present at all deliveries. And then we also have birthing classes that are offered, on a rotating schedule for six weeks, and it’s Zoom,” said Danielle Chodrick, Director of Obstetrics at Providence St. Joseph Hospital.

They also said they have 60 individuals who are on the labor and delivery staff. 

In 2023, Providence St. Joseph delivered 767 babies.