07/30/2026
MATERNITY AND DELIVERY CLOSURE -As the St. Lawrence County Legislator representing Ogdensburg, I was proud to speak at Wednesday night's public hearing about the negative impacts the loss of maternity and delivery services at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center will have on the Greater Ogdensburg community. I was proud to present to the hospital and deliver to the New York State Department of Health a resolution adopted by the St. Lawrence County Legislature that I cosponsored with Legislature Chair David Forsythe, Legislators Rita Curran, Joseph Lightfoot, and John Burke, as well as others. It was supported unanimously on a bipartisan basis by the full legislature. During my remarks, I argued New York State's efforts to "regionalize" health care have actually had devastating effects on rural communities across the state. Here in St. Lawrence County, we have already seen maternal care and delivery services lost in Massena and Gouverneur, and now we are facing the loss in Ogdensburg, endangering families and babies in the largest county (geographically) in New York State and East of the Mississippi. Thank you to everyone who came out to show their support for our hospital and our community. (Photo by Jimmy Lawton/ North Country This Week)