PEKIN — UnityPoint Health officials announced Tuesday that they plan to eliminate labor and delivery services in Pekin and route all such services to their Methodist facility in Peoria effective Sept. 17. The hospital system also said, in a news release, that the change will come alongside "enhancing adult specialty services" at the Pekin hospital. The change comes in part because the upcoming retirement of an obstetrician in Pekin will "create gaps in 24/7 coverage" at that site. In the release, UnityPoint stated that the number of patients delivering babies in Pekin "like many rural hospitals" continues to decline, and said shifting deliveries to Methodist would help in "eliminating costly duplication...
