Grammy-winner Tyler Childers criticizes imminent closure of KY birthing center
Eastern Kentucky country music star Tyler Childers is shedding light on the impending closure of a popular birthing center in Stanford, where he says he and his wife Senora May intended to welcome their second child later this year.
Childers, a Lawrence County native who took home his first Grammy for Best County Song earlier this month, said in an Instagram Stories post Wednesday he was “saddened” to hear Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital would be closing.
“In Sept of 2022, Senora gave birth to our baby boy here,” the bluegrass and folk artist wrote. “We were intending on going here for the birth of our second baby, who we are expecting later this summer.”
Ephraim McDowell Health announced last month it would shift labor and delivery services to the system’s larger, regional hospital in nearby Danville beginning Monday. The regional medical center has additional capacity and a special-care nursery for babies who need postnatal care, the system said.
Staff have been offered positions in Danville, which is about 15 minutes northwest on U.S. 150. Private practitioners are also being given space in the larger medical facility’s birthing center, the health system said.
The 25-bed Fort Logan hospital is not being closed, the health system added.
The obstetric program at Fort Logan has played host to a popular, luxury birthing spa since 2008 that features private suites replete with whirlpool tubs, in-room massage, spousal services and a private garden. The Bates, Miller, & Sims family medical practice doctors that provide care there wrote on Facebook that deliveries will be moved to Danville, “while we work toward bringing deliveries back to Stanford.”
Stanford, population 3,600, in Lincoln County is one of Kentucky’s oldest inhabited settlements. Home to a large metal stamping facility and large row crops near the Appalachian foothills, it features one of the state’s fastest growing Amish communities.
“This birthing center is a vital part of maternal care in the Stanford area,” wrote Childers. “It would greatly affect the Amish community surrounding the birthing center as well. The birthing center is a top notch medical facility that Kentucky should be proud of.”
The local community was shocked and angered by the health system’s abrupt decision to close the birthing center. Women have held demonstrations at the intersection of U.S. 150 and U.S. 27 near the hospital campus. The Lincoln County Fiscal Court passed a resolution urging the health system to reconsider.
Ephraim McDowell Health did not immediately respond to a Herald-Leader request for comment.
This story was originally published February 13, 2026 at 4:06 PM.
