Tamara Starr reports for News10 that a lack of cars or adequate public transportation is one argument activists are using against the possible closure of the Burdett Birth Center. It currently provides the only maternity services in Rensselaer County, and officials at Saint Peter’s Hospital now want to close it, forcing patients to Albany and elsewhere. Many patients who use the birthing center do not have a vehicle, and a trip on public transportation could take several hours. Eric Wisher, President of the Troy Uniform Firefighters Association, said they sometimes wait with patients in an ambulance for as much as two hours for a bed to be available in a hospital. He said, “I hope that doesn’t happen with maternity patients, but if they’re gonna be that much busier -there’s that potential.... And then here we are, potentially delivering babies in the parking lot of a hospital.” Katie Cook from Save Burdett Birth Center, said 61 percent of births there last year happened with patients on Medicaid. Cook said, “That’s a lot of births.... So that’s telling us that the women of Troy…there’s even more now on Medicaid, so they’re facing many barriers to everyday life.” Read more about this story at News10.