Rob Sand discusses rural healthcare issues, OBGYN challenges at roundtable

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand learned something troubling from healthcare providers at a recent roundtable. He learned there is only one hospital delivering babies in the area between Waterloo and Pella and between Des Moines and Iowa City. Up until a year ago there were two.

Newton Clinic and MercyOne Newton Medical Center paused all labor and delivery services in October 2024, leaving many Iowans in the Jasper County area and beyond to turn to UnityPoint Health Grinnell Regional Medical Center. Sand also learned there are only three doctors delivering babies in Grinnell.

Dr. Abby Flannagan of Grinnell Regional Medical Center told Sand her hospital is feeling the effects of Newton’s loss of services. When Flannagan was first hired about three years ago, doctors had delivered more than 100 babies every year; now, they are expected to deliver more than 300 babies by the end of 2025.

In Newton, staff were delivering upwards of 190 babies per year. By the time the services were paused, the hospital was delivering an average of around 100 babies per year. However, rural healthcare issues extend beyond the lack or removal of vital services. Flannagan noted residency spots just aren’t there.

“It’s not that we don’t have people that want to do this job — because there is — it’s we don’t have residency spots,” she said. “We don’t have anyone to train. We don’t have anyone to pay them. It is only going to get worse because these older generations are going to retire and there’s no one coming up to replace them.”

Flannagan and her wife both practice medicine in Grinnell. When her wife finally started her family practice, two people retired and two people left. Suddenly, she was the only family medicine doctor in town. Flannagan said her wife took on 800 to 900 patients for an entire year because there was no help.

“When I was practicing in Des Moines I had every resource available to me … Here I have no one,” Flannagan said. “I’m lucky if even half of my patients qualify for WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) or can even figure out how to get it done without some sort of help.”

Listening to the pressures faced by health care providers like Flannagan helped Sand to reflect on the idea of how he wants to make sure Iowa is a more welcoming state. At the end of the day, Sand said a vast majority of Iowans want someone there to deliver their babies.

“We were talking here to a female doctor who talked about her wife. And so who do we want to have in Iowa? My answer is: everybody … I think it’s important we not just talk about being a welcoming Iowa, but actually quit with the culture wars and just be focused on actually solving real problems for people.”