Rainy Lake Medical Center officials told The Journal Friday that they are working on developing a plan that would continue obstetrics, or OB, care locally.

“Ever since (RLMC) announced they were going to discontinue OB, we’ve been working on a plan to try to make sure that we could have something covered,” said Angela Liedke, foundation and marketing coordinator for RLMC.

RLMC officials earlier this month announced that beginning Oct. 1, late-term prenatal care and baby delivery services at the RLMC clinic and hospital campuses will be temporarily halted. A shortage of doctors in the area providing prenatal care spurred the decision.

Doctors will provide OB care until the patient’s 36th week of pregnancy. Prenatal care for the last four weeks of pregnancy will be referred to clinics and hospitals in Virginia, Hibbing, Bemidji and Duluth.

Although it isn’t final, Liedke said Friday that officials have been working on a plan to continue OB care after the Oct. 1 deadline to temporarily halt the service.

“It looks good,” Liedke said of the plan.

She said the potential plan could include locum doctors, which are physicians who work in the place of the regular doctor when that doctor is absent, or when a hospital/practice is short-staffed. These professionals are still governed by their respective regulatory bodies, despite the transient nature of their positions.

The local clinic was reduced from five doctors to three doctors who provide prenatal care after former RLMC physicians Bobbi Schneller and Jesse Heuer resigned from the clinic.

RLMC’s prenatal care team now consists of Samantha Crossley, Anthony Stone and Jeri Vergeldt. The three physicians made a collaborative decision to limit care to 36 weeks at both the clinic and hospital campuses, Liedke said earlier this month.

“In thinking about patient safety, we decided on the 36-week plan,” Liedke told The Journal. “It is a transitional act until more physicians are recruited.”

Other news reports indicated the decision to come up with a plan that would continue the delivery of babies locally was sparked by public outcry. However, Liedke told The Journal the intention to come up with this type of plan was in the works immediately following the two doctors resignations. 

“We were already working on something,” Liedke said. She added that the decision to temporarily discontinue deliveries was announced early while a more stable plan was being developed.