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WARREN – Although the Trumbull County Combined Health District did not know in advance when St. Joseph Warren Hospital announced last week it was going to close its labor and delivery department next month, the health district has a plan for how to address it, Health Commissioner Frank Migliozzi said Thursday.
He said a framework for helping pregnant women through this transition was created almost 10 years ago, when the first of several community needs health assessments was carried out. The most recent one was completed in July of 2025.
The every-three-year assessments, called a Mahoning Trumbull Community Health Partners Community Health Assessment, look at the healthcare assets and gaps in both counties and then writes an improvement plan. The agencies involved are Trumbull County Combined Health District, Mahoning County Public Health, Mercy Health and the health departments in Warren and Youngstown.
One of the issues each assessment has addressed is access to care, which is what the loss of the labor and delivery department at St. Joseph Warren Hospital truly is, Migliozzi said.
"We've had that as a community priority, and we have looked at a number of strategies," he said of filling local healthcare gaps. At the time of the last assessment, the assessment was responding to the closure of Trumbull Regional Medical Center.
Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren closed and reopened a time or two before closing the most recent time about a year ago. The loss of Trumbull Regional Medical Center was mentioned in the July 2025 Community Health Assessment report in comments given by focus-group members.
A Trumbull resident said, "Our area lost many (obstetricians/gynecologists) when one of the hospitals shut down its maternity services. Now there aren't enough doctors."
A Mahoning County resident said, "Access to prenatal care is a major challenge. With a shortage of OB/GYNS and no new providers coming in, the problem is worsening."
Another Trumbull County resident was already concerned about the travel distance to the maternity ward at St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital, according to the Community Health Assessment report. "Women have to travel to Boardman to give birth, which creates a significant burden," the Trumbull resident said.
The Oct. 28 Mercy Health announcement about the St. Joe's labor and delivery department closing said the hospital system would address the gap left by the closure by integrating labor and delivery services at its Boardman hospital, "creating additional capacity and greater access to advanced maternal and newborn care for families throughout the region."
Mercy Health said the move would "centralize deliveries at a location equipped with advanced clinical resources, including maternal-fetal medicine specialists and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit in partnership with Akron Children's Hospital.”
Mercy Health also said the decision to close the St. Joe's labor and delivery department was related to the "ongoing OB-GYN physician workforce challenges affecting healthcare organizations nationwide."
Migliozzi said Thursday there was a gap in maternal services in Trumbull County even before the St. Joe's announcement because local physicians were already seeing a larger number of patients per capita of population than in the past because of the Trumbull Regional closure.
But that closure also created another gap because a grant the Trumbull County Combined Health District had been using to help people obtain family planning services ended.
The most recent Community Health Assessment looked at ways to address those gaps. One way was the creation of a network last year called Valley Connect, which is led by Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries.
Mercy Health, the Trumbull and Mahoning county health departments, plus the health departments in Warren and Youngstown are part of the Valley Connect concept, along with more than 40 other organizations that connects people to health services through Valley Connect, Migliozzi said.
"Let's say a person needs food resources," Migliozzi said. "We can link them to a food bank. If they are looking for mental health services, we can link them to that through this secured network," he said.
The network allows participating agencies to reach out to the other agencies on the network, and a participating agency could "accept that client, and say 'Yea. we can provide that service,'" Migliozzi said. The other agencies will know that the services are being provided through the ValleyConnect network.
"Maybe someone is pregnant and they are looking for OB-GYN services. We would put that out there and somebody could accept that referral and know that they are being seen and taken care of," he said. "And that would lead to further coordination of where they are going to go when they are ready to deliver the baby.”
"That is how we are looking at linking and filling in the gaps now," he said.
When he was asked whether moms will need to think about having a doctor closer to St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital than ones in the Warren area they may be seeing now, Migliozzi said there has not been discussion on that issue yet.
He said he hopes through the Valley Connect network and linking expectant mothers with prenatal services, the mother can learn how to make arrangements in advance so they know where their baby will be born and what doctor will deliver the baby, "and that it is planned out."
The Youngstown Goodwill Industries website posted information about Valley Connect on its website Sept. 17, calling the network "our regional social information exchange network ... that helps community partners work together to improve access to the resources and supports people need."
It adds, "The network will also help the region better understand its needs. Aggregated data can reveal patterns in referrals, unmet needs and service gaps, giving organizations, coalitions, funders and community leaders better information to guide programs, partnerships and investments."
The website states that technology gives Valley Connect "the infrastructure, but partnerships are what make Valley Connect transformative," said Carol Holmes-Chambers, Vice President of Community and Workforce Development at Goodwill. "Every organization that joins brings another resource, another connection and another opportunity to create a pathway forward."
Holmes-Chambers said one way for individuals to get linked up to help through Valley Connect is go to to the Youngstown Goodwill Industries Valley Connect website by typing in Goodwill Valley Connect, going to the Goodwill Industries Valley Connect website and selecting the orange "I need help" box to complete the Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries Assistance Request Form.
HELP ME GROW
The Trumbull County Combined Health District also has maternal services that can be provided. Trumbull County's home visiting program for maternal services is called Help Me Grow, which is a "system of supports for pregnant women, caregivers with new babies and families with young children with developmental delays and disabilities," according to Trumbull County Combined Health District publications.
The Trumbull County Combined Health District brochure on Help Me Grow states that the program is for "families with a pregnant mother or a child less than 3 months of age." Its services are primarily targeted for low income residents, but some exceptions are possible for people who would not normally qualify.
Trumbull County residents also can get signed up for maternal services by calling the Trumbull County Combined Health District and asking for the Help Me Grow Program. The number is 330-616-3322.
The program involves an expectant mother being linked to services and then s family support specialist visiting the home for as long as three years, Migliozzi said.
Migliozzi said he thinks Valley Connect and Help Me Grow will help fill the gap in maternal services that will result from the St. Joe's ward closing.
"What we would encourage individuals to do if they are pregnant and in need of prenatal care is get signed up into this network," he said of Valley Connect. A person can call the 211 Help Network and request maternal health services through the Valley Connect network, Migliozzi said.
The nursing director and the family planning coordinator at the Trumbull County Combined Health District are part of the Valley Connect network, Migliozzi said.
He said promoting access to care, including material child care, is an issue the agencies who are part of the Community Health Assessment talk about monthly, including a representative of Mercy Health.
Migliozzi said he had "no idea" Mercy Health was going to eliminate labor and delivery services at St. Joe's prior to the Oct. 28 announcement. He said losing the labor and delivery departments at St. Joe's and earlier at Trumbull Regional Medical Center six years earlier have been "very concerning."
He said, "That is why we feel that through our partnership, we are going to make sure that (filling the gaps the closures are causing are) is prioritized, that we monitor it and we can do the best we can with the resources we have to make sure individuals are receiving the care they need."
He said one concern is maternity services for the northwest part of Trumbull County. Some people from that area do use St. Joseph Warren Hospital for maternity services, so the drive for those people to get to Boardman would be about an hour.
So the Trumbull County Combined Health District is now looking to expand the Valley Connect network to the University Hospital facilities in Geauga County to help coordinate maternity services for residents of that part of Trumbull County.