MaineHealth board votes to close Damariscotta hospital’s labor-and-delivery unit
MaineHealth’s board voted Aug. 6, 2026, to close the labor-and-delivery unit at Lincoln Hospital’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta, ending the hospital’s local delivery service after a months-long review.
The decision affects expectant families in Damariscotta and surrounding Lincoln County communities, as well as the maternity staff at Lincoln Hospital. Once the closure is implemented, families who would have delivered at the Miles Campus will need to use another hospital, increasing travel for some patients.
Lincoln Hospital’s Miles Campus is located at 35 Miles St. in Damariscotta. MaineHealth has not identified a final closure date in the public information cited for the decision.
Why MaineHealth reviewed the unit
MaineHealth’s official labor-and-delivery assessment cited ongoing challenges recruiting OB/GYN physicians and a low number of births. The assessment said 67% of Lincoln County expectant mothers were delivering somewhere other than Lincoln Hospital.
In the assessment’s defined service-area dataset, 218 births were recorded across the listed communities. Lincoln Hospital accounted for 70 of those births, or 32.1% of the total. Local reporting also documented a longer-term decline, with 131 births at the hospital in the prior year compared with 224 in 2006.
MaineHealth had said that only its board was authorized to approve a change to the program and that the board would meet in August. The Aug. 6 vote followed that review and a public campaign to preserve the unit.
Travel would increase for some families
MaineHealth’s assessment modeled the effect of closing the unit on travel times. It estimated that the average drive would increase by 18 minutes, reaching 39 minutes.
The assessment projected that 86% of residents would face a drive of 39 minutes or less. Another 12% would face drives of 40 to 49 minutes, while 2% would travel 50 minutes or longer. Those figures describe the assessment’s closure scenario and do not mean every family would experience an 18-minute increase.
The vote does not identify a single receiving hospital for every patient. MaineHealth’s public assessment also does not specify the final disposition of every maternity employee.
Community groups opposed the closure
Community members organized to oppose a possible closure before the board acted. A community forum was held June 2 at Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta, following a June 1 forum in Boothbay Harbor.
The Miles Delivers Action Coalition challenged MaineHealth’s rationale and urged health system leaders to delay the closure. Local and regional reporting documented continued opposition and calls to preserve the unit.
The board’s vote moves the proposal from review to an approved closure decision. The remaining practical details, including the implementation schedule and arrangements for patients and staff, will determine how the change affects families who had expected to deliver in Damariscotta.
Sources
- MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital Labor and Delivery Assessment, MaineHealth
- Damariscotta community members fight to keep birthing center open, Portland Press Herald
- Coalition challenges MaineHealth’s case for closing midcoast birthing unit, Bangor Daily News
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