Birth place

Healthy Start CEO is pushing to deliver planned maternity center

BY DONNA CRARY

As CEO of Martin County Healthy Start Coalition, Samantha Suffich has spent her career improving the health of mothers and babies. Last year, that mission became an urgent community campaign. In April 2025, Cleveland Clinic at Martin North closed its labor and delivery unit, leaving Martin County without local hospital-based maternity services. As a result, families must travel 45 minutes or more to access maternity care, creating additional risks during labor and other obstetric emergencies.

Suffich saw the closure as a call to action and began leading a push to restore local childbirth services. “Right now, moms are going south to Jupiter Medical, some are even going as far as St. Mary’s, if it’s needed, and north to Cleveland Clinic Tradition, St. Lucie Medical or Lawnwood,” she said. “And so, there’s fear — and safety issues. I feel like we are a community that has a certain level of resources where this issue is not necessary.”

Her advocacy has already helped turn this health crisis into an opportunity to reimagine local maternity care. The result is the proposed Treasure Coast Maternity Center, a 15,000-square-foot public facility that will provide comprehensive prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. In May, the Martin County Commission approved the estimated $10 million center, adjacent to Cleveland Clinic Martin South, and the project has already secured $1 million in state funding. 

The center is being designed to offer a safe, personalized birthing experience for healthy mothers who are at low risk of needing specialized interventions. It will feature four birthing suites, examination rooms and postpartum recovery spaces, staffed by certified nurse midwives, licensed midwives and a physician.