By NICOLE O’DANIEL
Los Alamos
We, the Los Alamos community and surrounding areas, want to keep labor and delivery (L&D) open at the Los Alamos Medical Center (LAMC). It has been devastating news for many in our community to learn of the closure as, for our community members it is not safer or better for pregnant or laboring women to be forced to travel outside of Los Alamos through cellphone dead zones. The community is coming together via a petition/letter that insists LAMC keep their doors open and continue providing necessary services to the women in our community.
In the formal announcement [1] and [2] no direct reason for this change is stated, although we understand this change likely stems from a low number of deliveries and difficulties with staffing. Instead of closing LAMC L&D, we ask that LAMC work with the community to increase the number of deliveries. There appears to be a misconception that Los Alamos Country has decreasing yearly birth rates, however, NM vital records data shows that the women living in Los Alamos County have had a consistent number of births for at least 15 years (2010-2024) averaging 166 per year [8]. LAMC L&D has not accepted women who do want to birth at the hospital. Increasing the births happening at LAMC can be achieved in many ways:
1. Keeping care consistent year-to-year so the community knows what to expect.
- This can be done in many ways, some of which include:
- Having full time providers (OB/Gyns, midwives, L&D nurses, anesthesiologists, etc.)
- Keeping the LAMC delivery doors open without risk of closure
- Outlining what services for women’s health are provide generally, prenatally, and postnatally.
2. Addressing the discrepancy in care between providers.
3. Accepting expectant mothers who want to give birth at the hospital into the practice.
4. Empowering providers so they are comfortable working in a lower resource setting.
5. Paying the providers such that they want to become full time providers.
It appears as if LAMC wants to provide labor and delivery services given two articles published by LAMC in recent years, 2024 and 2026 about extraordinary measures taken. With the LifePoint Health mission stating “Making communities healthier” [3] it is hard to see how this change is meeting that mission especially when it is creating fear amongst the community that all women’s medical services may be going away. It is concerning that the hospital appears to be placing profits ahead of providing needed medical care for women in our community as women make up nearly half of our county’s population [9].
In addition to many women feeling like the care they need will no longer be available in achievable ways, LifePoint Health / LAMCs current plan to close L&D conflicts with recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). An ACOG article on Maternal care first written in 2015 but reaffirmed in 2025 [7] summarizes that although partnerships and hospitals prepared for high-risk cases are beneficial to communities, it remains vital that hospitals with low birth rates remain open for deliveries.
If LAMC proceeds forward, against the communities’ wishes, to close L&D there are many questions that remain open that must be answered for the safety of our community. Examples of some of these questions are: Is the LAMC emergency room (ER) staff prepared and willing to take on gynecologic, obstetric, and neonatal emergencies? Will any OB/Gyn staff be on hand to support women’s health emergencies presenting to the ER, such as a ruptured fallopian tube?
Again, the petition and following letter/testimonials demonstrate our community’s support of our women (and babies) by insisting LifePoint Health keep LAMC L&D Open.
The full petition and letter can be read and signed online at the following site / QR code. Please take a moment to read, consider, and sign the petition to support the women in our community.
References:
Los Alamos Daily Post, “Los Alamos Medical Center Announces New Obstetrics Model In Partnership With CHRISTUS Health And Presbyterian Health,” Apr. 24, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://ladailypost.com/los-alamos-medical-center-announces-new-obstetrics-model-in-partnership-with-christus-health-and-presbyterian-health/. [Accessed: May 4, 2026]
Los Alamos Medical Center, “Family Shares ‘Beautiful Experience’ of Delivering Baby Girl at LAMC,” Sep. 18, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.losalamosmedicalcenter.com/news/2024/09/18/lamc_birthing_stories_beautiful_experience. [Accessed: May 3, 2026]
Los Alamos Medical Center, “A Family’s Fate Forever Altered: LAMC Saves Two Lives,” Feb. 25, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://www.losalamosmedicalcenter.com/news/2026/02/25/fate-forever-altered. [Accessed: May 3, 2026]
Lifepoint Health, “Community Impact Report 2024,” 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.lifepointhealth.net/assets/uploads/CBR25/Lifepoint-Health-CBR-2024-FINAL.pdf. [Accessed: May 3, 2026]
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Levels of Maternal Care,” Obstetric Care Consensus, Aug. 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/obstetric-care-consensus/articles/2019/08/levels-of-maternal-care. [Accessed: May 3, 2026]
New Mexico Department of Health, “NM IBIS: Birth Counts by County,” n.d. [Online]. Available: https://ibis.doh.nm.gov/query/result/birth/BirthCntyBirth/Count.html. [Accessed: May 1, 2026]
New Mexico Department of Health, “NM IBIS: Estimated Population Counts by County,” n.d. [Online]. Available: https://ibis.doh.nm.gov/query/result/pop/PopCnty/Count.html [Accessed: May 4, 2026]