A Valley hospital will no longer be a primary provider of maternity services, after announcing that they'll be closing their maternity ward by the end of the fiscal year. 

Salem Regional Medical Center issued a release Friday, stating that the hospital will no longer offer maternity services after June 30th. 

In a statement from the hospital, Salem regional announced that with the increasing median age in Columbiana County's population, the area's birth rate has been declining, yielding a drop of 15.6% in overall births from 2009 to 2017. 

The hospital says that in 2017, only 423 babies were born in the hospital all year. 

In response to the announcement, Matthew M. Bender, Chair of the SRMC Board of Directors, issued the following statement on behalf of the SRMC Board:

"We understand that our maternity unit has a very strong tie to our communities and we have truly appreciated the privilege to serve thousands of area families over many years."

"This very difficult decision to close our maternity unit was reached after an extensive assessment of area women's current choices when selecting maternity services. Prior to making our decision, we had to consider that approximately 70% of expectant mothers in our overall service area are currently choosing to leave our community and deliver their babies at non-SRMC maternity providers, instead of coming to our local maternity unit."

Salem Regional says they will help to transition expectant mothers who have due dates past June 30th. 

"We are collaborating with area maternity centers to transition expectant mothers scheduled to deliver at SRMC after June 30th," said Anita Hackstedde, SRMC's President/ CEO. "Within the next few days, transition communications will be sent out to those maternity patients who will be affected by this decision."

The hospital says that after June 30th, in the rare case where an expectant mother is unable to reach a designated maternity center, SRMC's Emergency Department physicians and staff are prepared to handle emergency deliveries.

According to the release, the maternity unit's closure will also impact obstetrics and gynecology patients who see the physicians affiliated with Salem Women's Health Partners (SWHP).

As of July 1, 2018, SWHP physicians will no longer provide local OB/GYN care and the practice will be closed. 

SWHP patients are currently being notified of their care transition options, including transferring to local primary care physicians who provide women's health services.

The hospital says the decision to not provide maternity services reflects the need in the community- citing older populations with a larger need for surgery, imaging, and cancer treatments. 

"As Columbiana County's largest health care provider, we have also made a significant commitment to providing state-of-the-art medical imaging services, nationally-recognized orthopedic care for joint repair and world-class cancer care through the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center at SRMC. SRMC has a long-standing tradition of advancing health care in our region; and during the past year, we have brought world-class cancer diagnosis and treatment to area cancer patients; launched the newest technology for breast cancer detection; and expanded our outpatient services as we fulfill our mission: To Serve. To Care. To Heal."

The hospital has not clarified the exact number of patients who will be affected or whether they anticipate any layoffs or job loss.