Care unit at St. E's will close

The employees can apply for vacant positions within HMHP.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Forty-five employees at St. Elizabeth Health Center will move to other jobs or be laid off when the hospital closes a unit in September.
The hospital's inpatient subacute care unit, which serves people in need of long-term care, will close Sept. 12. The unit opened about 10 years ago.
"In the past, subacute care facilities were the bridge for patients between acute care and post-hospital rehabilitation or long-term skilled nursing care," said Tina Creighton, a hospital spokeswoman.
But in recent years, many long-term nursing and rehabilitation facilities, including some within the Humility of Mary Health Partners system, have bolstered their operations to offer that kind of care.
"Those facilities have increased their ability to provide care for subacute patients and that's diminished the need for in-hospital subacute care," Creighton said.
Who's affected?
The hospital said that the 45 employees affected will have the opportunity to apply for vacant positions within HMHP. Those who don't get those jobs will be laid off and may continue to apply for open positions that arise.
Those affected include 16 registered nurses, 14 licensed practical nurses, 10 state-tested nurses aides, four unit clerks and an activities coordinator.
Teamsters officials who represent some of those who work in the unit couldn't be reached Wednesday.
Creighton called the unit's closing an example of a "shifting care model," trying to meet patients' needs.
"By eliminating that duplication, it frees up space for acute care beds," she said.
That will help the hospital accommodate seasonal fluctuations in the patient population.
Boardman Campus
As HMHP is closing one unit within St. E's, building of the new St. Elizabeth Boardman Campus continues.
The new seven-story inpatient hospital at Market Street and McClurg Road is being built around the emergency and diagnostic facility already at the site. The $77 million facility is projected to open next summer.
HMHP employs nearly 5,000 people at all of its facilities, which include St. E's, St. Joseph Health Center in Warren, St. E's Boardman Campus, Humility of Mary Home Health Services, the Assumption Village, Humility House and Hospice of the Valley.