Bob Van Diest addressed trustees and hospital staff during a public forum Tuesday evening. The owner of Van Diest Supply Co. contributed $10 million to the construction of the new hospital. The facility bears his name.

He said his family was shocked to learn of the closure in August 2018. The unit closed its doors Oct. 12, 2018, and patients were directed to other facilities for prenatal care and deliveries.

“Our new hospital was built not with one or two birthing rooms, but with four birthing rooms,” Van Diest said. “This hospital was built to deliver babies.”

Van Diest also gave an additional $3 million towards the construction of the family health clinic adjacent to the hospital.

In his address to the board, he said that if families were taking their baby business elsewhere, “We need to ask ourselves why and correct any shortfall we have in our community hospital. You’ve been in this hospital for 10 years and I think you have had adequate time to hire and train a staff.”

Last August, Chief Executive Officer Lisa Ridge said the decision to close the Family Birth Place was a business decision based on an ongoing study.

“This evaluation of the OB service line has been ongoing for quite some time — over two years,” Ridge said then.

According to her, the evaluation included patient access, safety, staff competency, recruitment of nurses and providers, and the volume of births.

“Within 38 miles, there were six access points where babies could be delivered — Webster City, Iowa Falls, Clarion, Fort Dodge, Boone and Mary Greeley in Ames,” Ridge said at the time.

With all of those options, Ridge said the number of births at VDMC had declined, from 128 births in 2016 to 72 in 2018.

On Tuesday, Van Diest said the hospital should not let other communities take business from the local hospital.

“If delivering babies is not profitable business for this hospital, so what? Babies are the glue that holds a rural community hospital together. We’ve got to hold our hospital together,” he said.

Van Diest said that Hamilton County taxpayers provide more than $2 million for the hospital through property tax dollars.

“The hospital reduced the services they provide when they decided not to deliver anymore babies, but guess what? This hospital administration asked for the same amount of Hamilton County taxpayer money,” he said. “This hospital has cut our services, but they did not cut the tax asking.”

When the community loses providers of goods or services, the community goes downhill, he said.

“Your real estate taxes will stay high, people will move to other locations that provide the goods and services they need and those left in the community will find the value of their home dropping 20 to 30 percent or more in value,” according to Van Diest. “We can not let this happen.”

Trustee Kirk McCollough asked Van Diest for a copy of his remarks so the board members could “parse through the comments.”

“On the flip side, the board didn’t take this matter lightly. It was a tough decision for us,” McCollough said. “We’re all in this together and we want exactly the same thing you’re talking about.