Hi Reader,
A story that I’m particularly proud of this year is a piece I wrote for our September Health Month series titled “Two years after the closure of Leominster’s maternity unit, a region is struggling.” This in-depth story explores the reality of maternity care access in Leominster two years after the city lost its local maternity ward.
In my reporting, I heard accounts of women giving birth in cars, ambulances, emergency departments, or reaching a maternity unit just in time to deliver. These experiences are a far cry from what many expect in a state that consistently ranks first in the country for its health care system, and telling this story helped shed light on an increasingly grave issue in a state assumed to be working well for everyone.
Not only was I able to spotlight the Gateway City of Leominster and the North-Central Massachusetts region in this piece, I was also able to explore the statewide landscape of maternity care access following a string of labor and delivery unit closures in the last decade. Elevating their stories makes it clear that their challenges aren’t isolated and are part of a statewide trend that deserves far more attention.
I’m new to Massachusetts – having joined CommonWealth Beacon in July – and reporting this story was a chance for me to connect with residents, officials, and health care workers in the city of Leominster and show them that somebody still cared about telling the story of maternal health care access in this region, even two years later. It reminded me why public service journalism, and the time it takes to do it well, matters so deeply. | 
