As Crozer-Chester Medical Center closes its ER, nurses deliver one last baby
Just moments from leaving it all behind and saying goodbye, Brenda Millar, a registered nurse in labor and delivery at Crozer-Chester Medical Center for more than 30 years, said there was an announcement.
"Overhead, I heard special delivery," Millar said. "No one else really reacted at first, and I'm going, 'They just said special delivery.' Special delivery for us means that someone is in the emergency room trying to deliver a baby."
Millar clocked out Tuesday night for her final shift at Crozer-Chester, but she came back Wednesday morning to walk out with the overnight crew. But there she was, with her team, helping one last person inside this long-running hospital.
A young mother delivered her baby.
"We were all in tears at the delivery, because it was both a sad moment and a happy moment," Millar said. "A beautiful baby is coming, so that is fun, but it's sad that we won't be able to do that for people anymore because they closed the doors. It's terrible, and someone should have done something about this before now."
On Tuesday, Pennsylvania lawmakers delivered a strongly worded letter to the state attorney general asking that criminal charges be filed against Prospect Medical Holdings, the bankrupt parent company of Crozer-Chester and Taylor hospitals.
State Sen. John Kane has been pressing for accountability.
"I'm hoping that the DA and the attorney general are going to look into it a little more serious now," Kane said. "To me, it's serious. I believe that it should have been happening all along."
For now, unemployed Crozer workers like Millar feel a mix of sadness, frustration and anger over how it came to this.
"Patients are going to suffer," Millar said. "Terribly."
While Millar said Prospect should pay for Crozer Health's closure, she also stated that the government bears some responsibility.
"I'm really upset with our government," Millar said. "They have bailed out car companies. They have bailed out airlines. They have bailed out banks. This should not have happened. They should have bailed us out. They should have helped."
