'I'm appalled': Windsor mother reacts to closure of maternal fetal medicine clinic

When Kathleen Towne became pregnant six years ago, doctors at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) diagnosed her with hypertension and pre-eclampsia.

Her son, Zackary, was born 29 weeks and five days into her pregnancy. Following his birth, he had to spend 50 days in the hospital's newborn intensive care unit (NICU).

Towne said if it weren't for the efforts of Dr. William Robert Mundle and the WRHmaternal fetal medicine (MFM) clinic, she would've been forced to travelto London, Ont. for care.

"The clinic walked me through the steps I would go through when delivering [Zackary], and showed me exactly what was going to happen," she explained.

Kathleen Towne reacts to Windsor maternal fetal medicine clinic closure

5 years ago

Duration 3:25

Kathleen Towne relied on the Windsor Regional Hospital's maternal fetal medicine clinic for care throughout her pregnancy. She says that the clinic's closure will harm mothers experiencing high-risk pregnancies.

On Tuesday, Windsor Regional Hospital announced the MFM clinic would be shutting down as of November 1.

As a result, some mothers experiencing high-risk pregnancies might need to travel to London or even Toronto for treatment.

Towne said she was appalled by the news, adding "we need to do something to see if we can get this back up and running, because it is a valuable program."

"This program has helped not just me, but thousands of other women in the city of Windsor and surrounding areas," she said.

Hospital says care will proceed as usual

Windsor Regional Hospital OBGYN chief Dr. Greg Hasen said he doesn't expect any patients will be affected, despite the clinic's closure.

The hospital's chief of staff Dr. Gary Ing added patients will still be able to receive quality care, even without the presence of the MFM clinic.

"With the improvement in technology and also the expertise developed by our local obstetric group ... we felt that we can minimize any kind of patient impact by moving down this path and making this decision," said Ing.

Still, Towne is not reassured.

"If I were to have another pregnancy, I would be classified as high-risk right away because of my previous pregnancy," she said.

"Nowwe're gonna be spending money on taking ambulances up the 401, which has got to be pretty costly."

Towne added there will still be mothers with high-risk pregnancies in Windsor "and we're going to have nowhere to send them."

According to the hospital, Mundle hasn't signalled his future plans, though he told CBC News establishing an MFM clinic outside of a hospital setting would not be possible.