Martin County Mothers Forced Miles Away as Maternity Desert Takes Hold

STUART — When Christina McGahee's pregnancy was classified as high-risk this spring, her nearest hospital was less than a mile away. It just wouldn't deliver her baby.

Cleveland Clinic Martin North had shuttered its maternity unit in April 2025, leaving Stuart-area families without a local delivery option. McGahee spent more than a week admitted at HCA Florida Palms West Hospital in Palm Beach County — a facility an hour from her home, her other children, and her support network — before delivering baby Tatum there.

"We live down the road from a hospital, but they don't deliver anymore," McGahee said.

Her experience is not an anomaly. It is the predictable consequence of a closure that local health advocates say Martin County commissioners and Cleveland Clinic executives allowed to happen without a replacement plan in place.

Cleveland Clinic had not responded to requests for comment on why maternity services were discontinued at Martin North as of publication time. The health system has not publicly explained its decision. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: Whether Martin County commissioners were formally notified before the April 2025 closure, and whether any conditions were attached to the hospital's operating agreements or certificate of need.]

The gap McGahee fell into has a name in public health circles. Dr. Pete Papapanos, a local OB-GYN, calls it a maternity desert — and says Martin County is far from alone.

"In Florida specifically, 20% of the counties are maternity deserts," Papapanos said. "Patients have to travel 30 to 60 minutes to get prenatal care."

Florida Department of Health data on Martin County's annual birth volume and maternal outcome trends was not immediately available and should be obtained before this piece publishes. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: Martin County birth totals, year-over-year, from FDLE or FDOH; FDLE does not track birth data directly — Florida Department of Health vital statistics is the correct source.] That number matters: without it, the county's claim that it can sustain a freestanding birthing center — and the opposing argument that low volume made hospital-based obstetrics financially untenable — cannot be evaluated by readers or commissioners.

Now, Samantha Suffich, CEO of the Martin County Healthy Start Coalition, says her organization has a plan. The proposed Treasure Coast Maternity Center would be a freestanding birth facility constructed adjacent to Cleveland Clinic Martin South in Stuart. The $5.4 million project would include six birthing suites, exam rooms, and recovery spaces, staffed by a mix of physicians, nurses, and midwives.

The coalition has secured $1 million in state funding. The source of that appropriation — including the bill number, legislative sponsor, and whether the funding is recurring — could not be confirmed from available source material. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: Florida state appropriation bill number, sponsor, and fiscal year for the $1 million allocation.]

A lease agreement for the site is scheduled for a vote at Tuesday's Martin County Commission meeting, making this week a pivotal moment for the project's viability.

Suffich framed the center as a pressure valve for local emergency rooms now absorbing unplanned deliveries. "We are going to take the pressure off of the local hospitals who at this point are seeing an increase in moms who are delivering," she said.

That framing deserves scrutiny. A freestanding birth center, by definition, is not equipped for high-risk deliveries — the very population McGahee represents. Staffing a facility with midwives and physicians for low-risk births while high-risk mothers continue to travel raises questions about patient triage protocols and transfer agreements with area hospitals that the coalition has not yet answered publicly. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: Whether the Treasure Coast Maternity Center proposal includes a formal transfer agreement with a hospital capable of Level II or Level III obstetric care.]

Four sources are needed before this enterprise piece is ready to publish in full: a Martin County commissioner on record about the commission's awareness of the April closure and its vote calculus Tuesday; an academic or state health agency expert on freestanding birth center outcomes data in Florida; an affected resident beyond McGahee; and an industry professional — ideally a hospital finance analyst or a health system representative — who can speak to why rural and exurban OB units close.

For now, McGahee's story is the clearest evidence that the gap is real and the cost is human.

"Having a facility right there would give a lot of peace of mind to expectant moms," she said.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.