Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton joined nurses, healthcare workers, and families outside Grady Memorial Hospital on Thursday to rally against OhioHealth’s plan to close the hospital’s maternity unit on July 31. Community members gathered to urge the health system to reverse the decision, arguing that losing labor and delivery services would force expecting mothers in one of Ohio’s fastest-growing counties to travel significantly farther for critical care.
Acton, the former Ohio Department of Health director, addressed the crowd with a call to action rooted in her medical background. “I see folks struggling everywhere I go and like these nurses and other health care professionals, I just can’t look the other way while people are suffering. I refuse to look the other way,” she said at the rally.
OhioHealth announced the closure on June 10, citing declining birth volumes at Grady. The health system reported that fewer than 10 percent of Delaware County babies born at OhioHealth hospitals were delivered at Grady during the last fiscal year, and said it would consolidate maternity services at its facilities in Dublin and Marion and at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. Despite delivering more than 260 babies last year, Grady’s maternity unit will cease inpatient operations at the end of July.
The closure creates a stark paradox: Delaware County is the fastest-growing county in Ohio, yet families will lose access to local maternity care. Supporters of keeping the unit open argue that the decision ignores the county’s rapid population growth and the dangers posed by longer travel times during labor. “When you have to drive 30 minutes away instead of ten, that introduces a lot of complications,” said Brittany Schock, regional editor of Delaware Source, a local publication covering the closure. “Babies are unpredictable and birth is unpredictable.”
The closure is part of a broader trend in Ohio. More than two dozen hospitals across the state have closed or consolidated maternity care since 2018, according to a count by the Ohio Hospital Association. The Grady decision marks the latest in this series of consolidations affecting rural and suburban communities.
Delaware City Council responded to the announcement by unanimously passing a resolution in late June asking OhioHealth to halt the closure and calling on the Ohio Attorney General to review an affiliation agreement between the city and OhioHealth that supporters believe requires maternity services to remain at Grady. The state’s attorney general is currently reviewing Delaware’s request for intervention. Despite the community pushback, OhioHealth has maintained that it has the legal authority to move forward with the closure and has not indicated any plans to reverse the decision.
Healthcare workers have raised concerns about patient safety. The Ohio Nurses Association warned that longer distances to birthing hospitals introduce complications and expressed worry about emergency deliveries occurring during transport. OhioHealth has said its emergency department teams remain trained to handle emergency deliveries if they occur at Grady, though the hospital will no longer offer inpatient maternity services.
Sources
- WSYX/MyFox28 Columbus — Community rally with Amy Acton, OhioHealth’s rationale for closure, and Delaware City Council’s resolution
- The Statehouse News Bureau — Delaware County’s status as fastest-growing county in Ohio, Grady’s delivery volume (260+ babies), broader context of 2+ dozen Ohio hospital maternity closures since 2018, and health risks of increased travel times
- OhioHealth Newsroom — Official announcement of closure effective July 31, 2026, and obstetric volume data
- The Columbus Dispatch — Confirmation of closure decision and decline in births at Grady
- NBC4 WCMH-TV — Ohio Attorney General reviewing Delaware’s intervention request
