Wyden, Merkley call on Saint Alphonsus to keep Baker City hospital birth center open for at least 6 months

Oregon’s U.S. senators are urging Saint Alphonsus Health System to keep the birth center open at the Baker City hospital for at least six months while they work to find solutions to nurse staffing shortages that prompted officials to announce the center would close July 30.

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, sent a letter Monday, July 10 to Odette Bolano, president and CEO of Saint Alphonsus Health Systems, which operates hospitals in Baker City, Ontario, Nampa and Boise.