Community leaders pushing for moratorium on Labor and Delivery cut

A group of influential community members met Thursday afternoon to discuss the closure of the Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital Labor and Delivery Unit.

While the unit is set to be closed within the coming weeks, the cut is only a fraction of a larger wave of cost-cutting measures that are believed to include some 31 employee cuts in addition to the Labor and Delivery staff.

A group that included three hospital board members along with Demopolis Mayor Mike Grayson, City Councilman Bill Meador and County Commissioners Freddie Armstead and Dan England decided to push for an emergency BWWMH board meeting to discuss the possibility of placing a moratorium on all firings and lay-offs.

If successful, that meeting would occur in the early part of next week. Should the motion to invoke the moratorium pass, the board would then use that time to consider an independent evaluation of the hospital as part of a larger plan to put into effect viable, long-term cost-cutting measures.

The group of community dignitaries pushing for the moratorium also included six local physicians among others.

WestAlabamaWatchman.com will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.