SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — According to the Association Of American Medical Colleges, nearly half of obstetrician-gynecologists, or OB-GYNs, nationwide are age 55 or older. Within the next five years, 35% of those physicians will be of retirement age.
Alexus Ballantyne is a mother of two children, with the more recent kid being born 10 months ago in August 2023.
“I was told that my OB, who delivered my daughter, was retiring and he was finishing out his last couple of months, so he wouldn’t take on any new pregnancies,” Ballantyne said.
Ballantyne’s experience isn’t uncommon, as many mothers are also struggling to find OB-GYNs, even in Sioux City. Floyd Valley Healthcare in Le Mars says they’re seeing new patients from out of town.
“I’m seeing people from a little farther distance than what we would usually see,” Cheri Varenhorst with Floyd Valley Healthcare said. “But I know like Akron doesn’t deliver babies anymore and so we get some from there and even some to the east. We pull from there and even towards Sioux City, we pull some from that direction too.”
“I’ve heard there’s wait lists at some locations,” Ballantyne said. “Some doctors aren’t taking on new patients.”
Fortunately for Ballantyne, a new physician would be arriving soon.
“I was uncomfortable at first because familiarity during a time of challenging, scary time for any mother, it just makes you uneasy,” she said. “I had a very complicated first pregnancy. I also happen to prefer a male OB for one reason or another. I’ve always had male doctors growing up.”
“New moms are often first and foremost trying to find the right provider to provide their care,” Sarah Sturgis said. “So a lot of times patients are able to get their OB care from the provider that they’re actually seeing themselves routinely for their care. Starting at a new OB, they’ll continue to see them, and a lot of times then those providers will also see those babies.”
According to a recent report from nonprofit March of Dimes, a third of Iowa’s 99 counties are maternity care deserts. That means there are no OB-GYNs or birthing hospitals unless mothers travel 11 miles or more.
“Sioux Falls isn’t too far, about an hour,” Ballantyne said. “But once you hit the end of pregnancies, especially with complications, you’re visiting that OB two, three times a week, which I started doing about 32 weeks, so it would have just been too much to be driving an hour one way to see an OB.”
Ballantyne said that while she got lucky with her new OB, she recommends new mothers do their research.
“Keep an eye out on where you live,” she said. “If you’re in Sioux City, of course, it’s probably a little bit safer to stay local as labor can be spontaneous, but it doesn’t hurt to look into other doctors and kind of get a feeler out there.”
According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, while 51,000 OB-GYN’S nationwide are needed to serve the population, more than 17,000 are expected to retire out of the industry in the next 6 years.