2 Northeast Ohio hospitals slated to shut down in September

WARREN, Ohio – The Trumbull Regional Medical Center and the Hillside Rehabilitation Center are scheduled to shut down on September 20.

Three letters were recently sent to the two medical facilities regarding their futures.

The letters explain that due to the owner of both facilities, Steward Healthcare System LLC, filing for bankruptcy on May 6, it’s moving forward with closures.

A total of 935 employees will lose their jobs and the City of Warren will only have one operating hospital.

The letters state that Steward expects terminations to be effective 60 days from the date of the notice which would be October 20.

However, Steward anticipates both medical facilities will shut down sooner than that and “affected employees will [not] need to provide services after the date of September 20.”

“We have residents that will die with having to go to another hospital given the time factor in ambulance service so if you’re directing them here out of Warren to Mercy Health, the distance is not appropriate,” Hubbard Township Trustee, Rick Hernandez said.

Hernandez blamed corporate greed for the closure.

According to Healthcare Dive , Steward “issued six-figure bonuses to executives, including the company’s head of human resources and chief legal counsel, while simultaneously halting supplier payments and taking out loan payments to keep the company afloat.”

Healthcare Dive also noted Steward’s CEO, Ralph de la Torre cashed in a $3.7 million salary in the year prior to the company filing for bankruptcy.

Hernandez called the closure “unprecedented” and is calling on Governor Mike DeWine to step in.

We are deeply saddened by this news. We take seriously the potential loss of any health care provider, and we understand the deep connections that can be formed between a hospital and the community it serves.

The corporate leadership of Steward Health Care must be held accountable to ensure they are actively working to support their local doctors while they work with patients and their families to find the best possible care alternative. While they have committed to do so, we will actively work with the local health care community to ensure they properly follow through on that pledge.

Nevertheless, we are optimistic that area’s residents will still be able to access quality care close to home. As many local residents are aware, Mercy Health St. Joseph Hospital is located close by (1.5 miles away) and Mercy Health St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown (a large facility with more than 400 beds) is less than 15 miles away.

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide whatever support we can for the region and its health care providers.

Governor Mike DeWine

Kelley Harnett is a former employee of Trumbull, but now works with a company contracted by the hospital. She worked for Trumbull for 27 years. She said she’s disappointed with the lack of action from the Governor.

“We need Governor DeWine to step up. Issuing a statement that says one point five miles down the road, you can get care… you can, but it’s not the same. We need both facilities,” Harnett stated. “Governor DeWine has seriously failed us. There are employees who have been here for 40 years and given their heart and soul. It’s sad.”

She said some of the services offered at Trumbull are not offered at Mercy Health like their heart program.

Harnett joined hundreds of others at a rally outside of Trumbull Thursday evening. She and a few others held up a sign that read, “Shame on you.”

“I worked for [Mercy Health St. Joseph Hospital] for many, many years and a lot of times St. Joe’s would have to go on diversion and send ambulances to [Trumbull] because they were too full. At this point, where are our people going to go? Where’s our community going to go?,” Harnett asked. “We’re concerned about life. Time is muscle.”

She said she’s heard chatter of a closure for more than a year, but never thought this day would come.

While Harnett said she’ll be transferred after the closure and still have a job, she said she’s fighting for everyone else involved.

Included in the layoffs is Mickey Overmyer. She’s currently an MRI technician at Trumbull and has worked at the hospital for 36 years.

“I love this hospital, and our community is going to suffer greatly if something doesn’t happen,” Overmyer said. “We need help from somebody before it's too late. We're coming down to the wire here and everybody here is here for our patients and Steward is not letting us take care of our patients. It's a bad, bad situation on all parts and we're just here to try to get somebody to listen to us and help us out.”

Karen, a front desk employee at Trumbull, said she’s worked at the hospital for 42 years and is disheartened by the decision to close.

“We grow a really, really close connection with the community. I know a lot of people's families. I've watched people come in for years, struggling for their life, watch them pass away and you get really connected,” she said. “It’s not just about me. It’s about this community.”

Karen also blamed the closure on corporate greed.

“It's sad that you put profits over human beings,” said Karen.

Harnett added, “I think that you should be embarrassed that you took a bonus prior to announcing a bankruptcy. You have affected patient’s lives, employees’ lives. They should be ashamed. I don’t know how you can live with yourself knowing you’ve affected so many people in such a detrimental way. It’s disappointing.”

The Trumbull County Commissioners as well as the Warren City Council have each committed $3 million to keep Trumbull’s lights on, according to Hernandez.

But it begs the question – how much more oxygen will that contribution give the Trumbull Regional Medical Center to breathe?

“We’ll need more. We’ll need community. We’ll need donations. A lot of support from corporations. It’ll be a really rough first year if they do buy it, but I believe that we can rebound and actually make it better than it has been since Steward bought us,” Karen explained.

News 5 reached out to Steward for a statement twice this week, but never received one.

The goal amongst those who attended Thursday’s rally is to turnover the hospital to a nonprofit organization.

We’ll continue to follow through.

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