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Catharine Richert

Author

For medical and financial reasons, a growing number of rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies. That's adding risks to rural birth, and making it that much harder to keep people in small-town Minnesota. Grand Marais sees that firsthand.

For women in more than half the rural counties in cross the nation, the journey to the hospital is longer than it used to be, and more risky for mother and child. Reporter Catharine Richert explores why a growing number of rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies.

Why rural OB goes away - Parts 1-4

Yvette Ibrahim holds Zein while her husband, Tamer, heats up dinner.

Evan Frost | MPR News

The home of the Ibrahim family sits in the dark outside of Grand Marais.

It is usually a two hour drive from Grand Marais to Duluth

William Lager | MPR News

In-hospital obstetrics services across Minnesota.

Jiwon Choi | MPR News

New parents Erin Petz and Matt Tyler sit with their newborn Corwyn.

Erin Petz holds her 10-day-old son, Corwyn.

Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux sits for a portrait.

Nurse Amy Schmidt works with Amanda Weberg and her 1-year-old son Odin.

Dr. Jenny Delfs stands for a portrait inside the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic.

Multiple solar panels power Tamer and Yvette Ibrahim's remote home

Kristin DeArruda Wharton stands for a portrait. 

Tamer and Yvette Ibrahim sit for a portrait with their son Zein.

Tamer Ibrahim drives his truck down the miles long drive to his home.

Rural hospitals retreat from delivering babies; small towns pay the price

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