Dumas Hospital Expands Obstetrics to Meet Rural Needs

Delta Memorial is expanding OB care as other hospitals cut back. (Photo provided)

Delta Memorial Hospital in Dumas is expanding its obstetrics unit as other rural hospitals have closed theirs.

The 25-bed hospital is scheduled to have a grand opening of its $2.4 million obstetrics wing on March 2.

The hospital is also adding to its staff three family medicine physicians with obstetrics training, said CEO Jeremy D. Capps. One physician is set to arrive in September, and the other two will join in September 2027, bringing the total to five doctors with OB training, he said.

The previous OB unit had one bed and another bed reserved for emergency cesarean sections, Capps said. “We had one physician at the time that was primarily delivering and that worked most of the time,” he said.

The hospital started making plans for the expansion in 2023, and its board approved the work in early 2024.

The labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum wing will now have five beds and be closer to the hospital’s operating room, he said.

The OB unit is “its own wing, so it’s more secure, and it also is designed to have a triage in case there’s an emergency patient that comes in that requires OB-type care,” Capps said.

The hospital “wanted to further invest in maternal health, make a nicer unit for the moms as well as the babies,” he said.

While the expansion project was underway, Delta Memorial agreed to hire the additional physicians. And with the extra doctors, “we really needed more than one room,” Capps said.

The family doctors also will handle minor procedures in the operating room and see their own patients. “When the baby needs to be delivered, they’ll come over and deliver a baby, and then they’ll take turns working the ER at night,” Capps said.

He said his strategy to recruit doctors is to have a happy staff. Cheerful employees are “going to find other people to come work alongside them. And that’s what I’ve been really blessed to have that happen here.”

The OB unit’s opening comes as other rural hospitals have closed their labor and delivery rooms because of the high costs of operating them. In January, Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, which averaged about 250 deliveries a year, became the latest Arkansas hospital to close its labor and delivery unit.

Capps said that Delta Memorial has profitable service lines that have allowed it to expand its obstetrics services. One of its profitable services is providing medical stabilization treatment for patients who suffer from addiction to benzodiazepines, alcohol or opioids. That program, called Breakthrough, started in April 2023.

Construction on the OB unit’s renovation began in September, with Nabholz Construction of Conway did leading the work. WDD Architects of North Little Rock handled the design. Construction costs were $2.1 million. Furnishings were about $300,000.

Capps said the project will be paid for with cash from operations and $160,000 in donations raised so far.