ALBANY, N.Y. — At the Capital District Area Labor Federation’s Annual Gala Oct. 11, Save the Burdett Birth Center Coalition received the federation’s Solidarity Award. Ashley Saupp, a leader of the coalition, said they could not have succeeded without the support of organized labor.
The coalition of community groups, unions and families in this area won an important victory when St. Peter’s Health Partners bosses announced in April that they would relent and keep the Burdett Birth Center open for at least another five years. Burdett, the maternity ward at Samaritan Hospital, is the only birth center in Rensselaer County. It serves predominantly low income and rural families.
Even though Burdett averaged 900 births a year, in June 2023 St. Peter’s said it was going to close it down, claiming the company was losing $2.3 million a year. This came on top of the Albany Medical Center shutting the birth center at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson in 2020 after taking it over several years earlier.
Nearly 30 maternity wards have closed in New York state over the last 15 years.
The coalition comprises midwives and doulas from the center, as well as a wide swath of area groups and unions. This included the YWCA, church groups, local firefighters, the New York State Nurses Association, Service Employees International Union Local 1199, Troy Labor Council, Capital District Area Labor Federation, Planned Parenthood and others.
They organized rallies and informational programs. Troy firefighter union members who work with the town’s ambulance department helped get out the word that short staffing makes it hard to help expectant mothers get to Burdett in time. NYSNA members from Albany Medical Center and Bellevue Woman’s Center described how both hospitals have short staffing issues as well, and many times expectant mothers face long waits for procedures and tests.
— Mike Fitzsimmons, member of New York State Nurses Association at Albany Medical Center.