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Hospital Blames Staffing Woes For Lack Of Pregnancy Care

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Officials from a hospital in Las Vegas are responding to concerns about the closure of the ob-gyn unit there more than six months ago.

The CEO of Alta Vista Regional Hospital, R. Chris Wolf, said in a letter to Attorney General Hector Balderas that the rural hospital is not the only one in New Mexico that has trouble staffing for labor and delivery services. 

He said there are seven others that don't provide labor and delivery services.

Alta Vista needs to hire at least two ob-gyn's, two pediatricians or family providers who can work with newborns, and 10 ob-gyn nurses in order to appropriately staff the unit, according to the letter. Wolf also said they have conducted seven job interviews since it was closed in March, but had no takers.  

Balderas, in the second of two letters to Alta Vista, has asked for details on the hospital’s progress. The San Miguel county commission got involved earlier this year after a pregnant Las Vegas woman died in a car accident on her way home from an ultrasound in Santa Fe.

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