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Clinics at Northside to remain open

Future of the rest of facility up in the air

Tribune Chronicle / Renee Fox Laurie Hornberger, president of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, speaks at a press conference Thursday outside Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown, which will cease operations Sept. 20, owner Steward Health Care announced Wednesday.

YOUNGSTOWN — While Steward Health Care is closing the hospital operating out of the Northside Regional Medical Center, the two buildings containing six private practices leasing space from the company will remain in operation.

“The doctors’ offices located onsite at Northside will remain open. There are six practices, including our family practice center that serves thousands of Youngstown residents, that will continue to use medical office space onsite,” said Trish Hrina, regional marketing director for Steward.

Because the offices are private practices, the employment of the physicians and their support staff will not be affected by the closure of the rest of the facility.

The future of the main hospital on Gyspy Lane is still up in the air. Steward cannot “speak to” what will happen with the main building — whether that portion of the property will be sold, leased to another health care provider, boarded up or maintained for a future Steward venture, Hrina said.

The union representing 188 registered nurses at the hospital is scheduled to negotiate severance packages with Steward at the end of August and in the beginning of September, said Laurie Hornberger, president of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, represented by the Ohio Nurses Association.

Hornberger, several other nurses and several lawmakers spoke at a Thursday morning press conference outside of the hospital.

Steward is organizing a job fair other hospital systems are expected to attend, as are other health care providers, said Ohio Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman.

Few nurses in the union are expected to pursue employment through Steward’s other regional hospitals, Hornberger said.

“We’ve already had a dose of (Steward) for over a year,” Hornberger said.

Marcia Schiffauer, an intensive care unit nurse for 35 years, said as a member of the union contract negotiating team, the goal is to ensure the union members get a large enough severance package that will give the nurses enough of a cushion to secure comparable jobs with comparable pay somewhere in the region.

The nurses who spoke said Steward should have done more to attract patients and shouldn’t have made cuts that turned patients away.

Steward’s explanation for the closure is there aren’t enough patients to justify keeping it open. The for-profit Boston-based company purchased the hospital in February 2017, along with several others from ValleyCare Health System of Ohio.

Northside’s interim President Linda Grass stated in a letter the hospital would close Sept. 20 because it is “significantly under-utilized.” She wrote the hospital in the past 10 years has seen a 71 percent decrease in patient visits and nightly, four of five beds are empty.

Schiffauer said losing Northside’s labor and delivery unit is a big blow for the community.

“I was born here, probably many of you were. My children were born here. I wanted to see my grandchildren born here. That is not going to happen. It’s a shame,” Schiffauer said.

The Service Employees International Union represents about 230 workers at the hospital.

“We are meeting with hospital management today to bargain the impact of the closure that will include conversations about severance, allowing workers to make lateral moves to other Steward facilities in the area — Trumbull Memorial or Sharon Regional — and other issues of concern of our members,” said Anthony Caldwell, spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 1199.

The hospital will stop taking ambulances and admissions in the emergency department on Sept. 17 and by Sept. 19, Northside intends to transfer or discharge any remaining patients, according to the letter.

Patients are expected to be transferred to Trumbull Regional Medical Center, owned by Steward, and other local hospitals.

Employees will be paid through Oct. 14, according to the company.

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