Hospital operator Steward Health Care reached a deal with hospital nurses after the company closed the Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown, Ohio.
Due to low patient volume, the hospital shut down last week, impacting 468 employees at the facility. The nurse’s union in Ohio negotiated severance packages for the 188 nurses who work there, according to the Youngstown Tribune Chronicle. “Due to the terms of this agreement, we cannot discuss further details,” said Molly Homan, director of communications for the Ohio Nurses Association.
As the closing of the hospital approached, Union officials said in August that they hoped to secure packages that would give them adequate time to find new jobs with comparable pay in the region, the Tribune Chronicle reports. Employees will be paid until Oct. 14, according to Steward.
The hospital closure was announced in August.
“Despite continued investment, Northside Regional Medical Center remains significantly under-utilized — as it has been for many years,” Steward said, as Becker’s Hospital Review reports. “While other nearby hospitals have seen increasing numbers of patient visits in recent years, Northside has seen a 71 percent decrease over the past decade.”
Steward made headlines when they moved from Boston to Dallas in February, renting space Downtown and in Richardson. The Boston Globe reported that the company is aiming toward a national presence and quadrupled in size over the last year. Steward has Texas locations in Port Arthur, Beaumont, Odessa, San Antonio, Houston, and Texarkana.
