MEDINA – The gesture delivered was more symbolic than anything else.

A packed City Hall rotunda of local mothers, residents and medical officials spoke out against the Cleveland Clinic to a supportive Medina City Council when the legislative board met March 27. The public comment portion of the meeting went on for close to an hour.

Donning blue and pink shirts with images of infants and reading “Save Medina birthing center,” the group of several dozen criticized the Clinic’s recent announcement it would be closing Medina Hospital’s birthing unit July 1. The decision will leave expectant mothers no choice but to travel outside of Medina County to deliver, upwards of 20-40 miles depending on where she lives.

Medina resident Jane Ann Brock, a retired registered nurse who worked in the birthing center for 25 years, spoke to council first. She brought with her a visual aid showing how far Medina County mothers will have to travel to the Clinic’s three hub hospitals – Fairview, Hillcrest and Akron General – it says it will be centralizing births at, due to them having neonatal intensive care units.

“Doctors and nurses have chosen to live here, to have their practice here. Some physicians have disaffiliated with a major health care system so they could stay in Medina and service the needs of their patients that choose to deliver here in Medina County,” Brock said.

Brock criticized the Clinic’s lack of a Medina Hospital emergency delivery plan for pregnant mothers who may not be able to make it to a hub hospital in time, in addition to fulfilling to the ER’s usual duties.

“What is the Cleveland Clinic’s plan for a mother that comes to the ER with a prolapsed cord? What if she’s hemorrhaging from a placenta previa or she has an abruption of her placenta or she mother arrives 28 weeks frank breeched, ready to deliver, or the mother who arrives 34 weeks and is having an eclamptic seizure?” Brock asked. “Minutes are vital.”

Dr. Pat Naples – a resident and an obstetrician and gynecologist who has practiced in Medina for 30 years – said he has delivered close to 6,000 babies at Medina Hospital and helped establish consistent obstetrical services there.

“I’m not here to bash the Cleveland Clinic. They’ve done a lot of good things in their time, but this is not one of them,” Naples said of the closure. “They’re concerned about the Cleveland Clinic. Every decision they make is to the benefit of the Cleveland Clinic. When they came to Medina, it wasn’t necessarily the benefit of Medina. It was to benefit the Cleveland Clinic, a strategic decision to make.”

Naples went on to call the Clinic’s decision “a detriment to this community.” He said he wasn’t sure what problem the Clinic was trying to solve by closing the birthing center, saying his and other doctors’ proximity to the hospital has been the paramount of the birthing center.

“I can’t go anywhere in this town without seeing a family I delivered. It’s the biggest joy of my life,” Naples said. “In the 30 years I’ve been here, I have witnessed nothing but high professional care, care provided by neighbors to neighbors ... What’s gonna happen now, on a good day, it’s going to take patients 45 minutes to an hour to get to a hospital.”

Naples said “there’s no do-overs, no mulligans” when it comes to childbirth and its preliminary care.

“This community will lose tremendously if we lose our family birthing center,” he said.

Kevin Young also spoke to council. Young is a Lakewood resident who handled media relations for the Save Lakewood Hospital Committee during the Clinic’s process of reducing services over the last several years.

The committee filed a lawsuit against the Clinic after the corporation allegedly announced it would expand pediatrics and trauma at Lakewood, while Young alleges documents found in the lawsuit’s discovery period showed the Clinic’s plans to “decamp and destroy our hospital.”

Young argued the Clinic is “distorting the truth” when it comes to the future of services at Medina Hospital, saying the birthing unit could be the start of future reductions. He also offered social media advice to anyone interested.

“A lot of us in Lakewood, when we heard about what’s going on here, felt a great affinity for what you are about to go through,” Young said. “The Cleveland Clinic puts profits way before the interest of all of us in this room.”

A number of other local mothers also spoke to council about their experiences at the birthing center.