BAKER CITY, Ore. — A mother's water broke as she rushed toward the nearest hospital 40 miles away. She didn't make it and instead gave birth in her car just miles away from the hospital.

It's a reality Baker County Commission Chair Shane Alderson hopes to put an end to, but it's become an increasingly possible scenario since St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City, Oregon, which is also the only hospital in Baker County, closed its maternity unit in August of 2023.

Now, county officials are hoping federal funding could bring labor and delivery services back to the rural Oregon community of roughly 16,000 residents.

"I'm very hopeful that this might be what we need to bring it back and sustain it in our outlying communities and other counties," Alderson said.

St. Alphonsus closed its

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