Bye Bye Birdie

If you want the stork to come visit in Commerce, GA don't count on using the local hospital.

Banks Jackson Medical Center is closing their labor & delivery doors in early December.

According to Henry Slocum, the hospitals community relations director, hard times are taking their toll.

He said that it is possible that BJC could re-establish labor and delivery services if demand increases and the economy improves.

Slocum says 66 babies were delivered at BJC last year, and expectant parents will be directed to other hospitals in northeast Georgia that offer labor and delivery services

Most of those births were Medicaid patients. The hospital can no longer afford to treat these patients due to the low reimbursement from Medicaid.