Deena Chadwick is a Brattleboro business owner and resident.
BRATTLEBORO-As a small business owner, I've spent thousands of hours talking with people in this community. Behind my salon chair, I've had conversations with teachers, nurses, contractors, retirees, young parents, business owners, and people with very different opinions about almost everything.
Yet despite those differences, I believe most of us want the same things for Brattleboro: thriving local businesses, safe neighborhoods, good schools, well-maintained roads, more housing, and young families choosing to build their futures here.
That's why the proposed closure of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's birthing center has made me think less about one hospital department and more about the future of our community.
Building a community is a lot like building a house. A strong house isn't held together by one brick. It's strong because every brick supports the next. Communities work the same way.
The proposed closure of our birthing center isn't just the loss of a hospital service. It's the removal of another brick from the foundation of the community we're trying to build.
I understand the hospital's difficult financial reality. Financial sustainability matters. But community sustainability matters, too. The decisions we make today will shape Brattleboro for decades, long after today's budget challenges have passed.
Remove one brick and a house still stands. Remove another, and it still stands. But over time, enough bricks are gone that the foundation begins to weaken. You may not notice it all at once, but eventually the cracks begin to show.
I believe Brattleboro is already beginning to see those cracks.
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A birthing center is about much more than where babies are born. It signals that Brattleboro is a community where families can build a future, healthcare professionals can build a career, and employers can confidently recruit the workforce they need.
Communities with strong foundations attract people. Communities that gradually lose those foundations struggle to do the same.
When communities lose pieces of their foundation, attracting families, businesses, investment, and skilled workers becomes more difficult. Over time, that weakens the tax base, leaving fewer resources to maintain our roads, support our schools, strengthen public safety, and invest in the infrastructure every community depends on.
We often talk about revitalizing downtown, creating housing, strengthening our workforce, and growing our economy. Those aren't separate conversations. They all depend on building a community where people choose to live, work, raise a family, and invest.
This discussion is about more than a birthing center. It's about whether our decisions are strengthening Brattleboro's foundation or gradually weakening it.
If we want Brattleboro to be a place where families choose to stay, businesses choose to invest, and future generations choose to build their lives, then we have to protect the foundation that makes all of that possible.
After all, what we're building today is the Brattleboro we'll leave behind tomorrow.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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