02/08/2023
It is with a heavy heart that I write this. It is not a message that any business owner wants to write; it is devastating for me to write this as a doctor.
Loehr Family Birth and Wellness will be closing at the end of February. I and all of our team members believe in our mission and are proud of the outcomes and accomplishments we have been a part of – and the new lives brought into this world. Despite this, we are closing the doors. Let me explain why I have had to make this impossibly hard decision.
My life's mission has been about supporting a natural lifestyle and giving patients natural options for their healthcare. Natural pregnancy and pediatric care have been at the center of this mission. In the past 17 years as a doctor, I have focused on " redefining the standard of health and wellness." As a testimony to this mission, my family has personally been patients of the midwives at the birth center, and we delivered our last three babies under their care.
Last year, just a few months after purchasing the birth center, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and was forced to be away from the practice for nearly ten months as I fought for my life. While I was out, we lost a lot of valuable employees and have been unable to hire the appropriate staff to fulfill our mission and properly care for patients. It has become clear that for our patients to have the best outcomes, we must close our doors and help them seek their care elsewhere.
On the personal side, I have leveraged all I have to try to keep the business afloat, including running the business at a financial loss for some time. As a Doctor, I want to help everyone live a healthier, more natural life, and it pains me beyond words not to be able to do this for all of our patients. Ultimately, this isn’t about me, it is about the moms and babies that deserve the highest standard of care possible.
As healthcare providers, everything we do has to be in the best interest of the patient. This decision – as hard as it is – is no exception. As is the case for many businesses, keeping exceptional people on staff has become progressively harder and harder. Ultimately, we have been unable to compete with the larger healthcare providers in town to keep enough providers to care for our patients properly. We have tried to power through. Our current team has worked double and triple shifts, and we have never compromised our level of care. I have come to the hard realization that we cannot continue to offer services and maintain our care standards as this employment trend continues.
The heartbreaking consequence of this decision is that there will be mothers who are left with uncertainty about their care. We have been developing a plan for each of those mothers to ensure their birth experience is as safe and positive as possible. We have been working with other providers in town that have agreed to accept and care for our clients in order to have a smooth transition of care.
We have been in discussions with them to assume care seamlessly, and they are truly doing what is right for patients. We will be eternally grateful to those midwives and providers.
We are grateful to have served you,
Dr. Steven Loehr
