Staff photo / Chris McBride
A supportive message written along one of the entryways of Insight Hospital and Medical Center at Trumbull.
WARREN — Insight Hospital and Medical Center at Trumbull announced an abrupt shutdown of all medical services at Trumbull and Hillside hospitals, which left employees and patients in the dark Thursday as operations stopped at 3 p.m.
In a memo to media outlets Thursday, a spokesperson attributed the shutdown to “additional abrupt developments” in Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy proceedings and what the hospital described as “mounting lack of transferred dollars” owed for care provided to patients at the Trumbull and Hillside facilities.
The memo says that in the “interest of patient safety,” current patients are being transferred amid the cancellation of future appointments.
“While the plan remains in place to redesign the hospitals’ operations fully independent of Steward, we apologize for the confusion this transition has caused the community and for the undue burden it has placed on patients and employees,” the memo reads.
The news is the latest in a series of announcements regarding layoffs and cut services throughout the month.
Warren Mayor Doug Franklin addressed the issue in a brief statement, “I’m disappointed and frustrated by the turn of events. I’m in contact with representatives from Insight to get further information and a better understanding of the duration of any pause in services moving forward.”
To the staff, Franklin offered his sympathies, “My concern and my frustration is for the tremendously hardworking staff who’ve dedicated years, even decades, to keeping our community healthy. They do tremendous work and now they’re left uncertain about the future. My heart is with them.”
Just last year, a crowd filled the hospital lawn waving signs and chanting alongside nurses, doctors, union leaders and longtime patients — many with generations of ties to the hospital, calling it “critical to the community.”
Pat Wilson, a 77-year-old wound care patient from Cortland, told the Tribune Chronicle she received two phone calls Thursday morning. The first she said was a call informing her that her wound care appointment was canceled. The second call advised her to seek treatment at either St. Joseph Warren Hospital, a few blocks away, or St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
“The people in the wound care center are excellent,” Wilson said. “I’ve had a longstanding abscess they’ve tried a number of things to fix and so it’s a big disappointment if they’re not going to be there.”
On Monday, Insight announced a pause in local operations, furloughing employees but keeping the East Market Street emergency room, as well as limited lab and radiology services, open.
In a statement Thursday from Service Employment International Union District 1199, a union representing a portion of those previously laid off, expressed frustrations, stating that representation from the hospital “have claimed these sudden developments are due to Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy proceedings and ‘the mounting lack of transferred dollars owed for healthcare services delivered to patients at Trumbull and Hillside hospitals.’”
“Nearly 150 SEIU members have worked diligently through Steward’s poor management, bankruptcy and sale of the hospital,” the statement continues. “These workers serve as respiratory therapists, pharmacists, med techs, radiological techs, social workers, dieticians, switchboard operators, rehabilitation services and more classifications.”
Those employees are now concerned if they’ll have employment, the statement continues.
Also this month, Dr. Gray Goncz, who replaced Cindy Russo as the hospital’s president and chief restructuring officer, stepped down after about two weeks in the role. Russo had held the position since July 2022.
A “Rapid Response Event” is scheduled for Friday, April 4, hosted by Ohio Means Jobs Trumbull County, in the Kent State Trumbull Campus auditorium, 4314 Mahoning Ave. NW.
Employees with last names starting with A through K will be serviced at 9 a.m. and last names L to Z at 11 a.m. A make-up session is scheduled for 1 p.m. that same day.
For additional information, call 330-675-2179.
link