Heights University Hospital, formerly known as Christ Hospital, shuttered its emergency room Saturday night.
Jersey City filed an emergency injunction to keep the ER open, claiming Hudson Regional Health “failed to follow basic rules required by state law to close a hospital,” but a judge ruled against the injunction.
At a press conference Saturday evening, Jersey City Mayor James Solomon said residents have a right to be mad and frustrated by the closure.
“Because what we have seen is corporations that think they’re above the law,” he said, adding, “The people of Jersey City Heights deserve health care.”
A spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called the closure “abrupt” and “illegal,” adding, “The hospital owes tens of thousands of dollars to the state in penalties for closing in this manner.”
Why the ER closed
Heights University Hospital closed last November and laid off 150 employees. At the time, it promised to keep the emergency room open.
The full closure was initially announced a little more than two weeks ago, and then Hudson Regional Health, the hospital’s new owners, said it would spend $1 million to keep the ER open for an additional two weeks. A hospital spokesperson said the only way the ER could stay open beyond that would be if it received help from the state.
A spokesperson for HRH, which took over the CarePoint Health system in 2024 after it declared bankruptcy, said the hospital was losing tens of millions of dollars annually due to “a majority underinsured payer mix, cuts to state and county aid, an aging and neglected facility.”
“While this outcome is extremely disappointing, the decision was made to preserve the stability of the hospitals in the system and ensure the continued delivery of care within the HRH Hudson County network,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also said it has proposed plans to the city to build residential units to help fund the construction of a state-of-the art hospital to bring in more patients.
HRH said it also plans on opening an urgent care facility in an adjacent building in the near future and a mobile health unit in the coming months. Patients with life-threatening traumas are being diverted to other area hospitals, including Jersey City and Hoboken medical centers.
Outcry from community
The shutdown will leave thousands with fewer emergency care options.
Saturday afternoon, demonstrators used the already-empty parking lot to stage a “die-in,” showing what they feel would happen if the emergency room closes. Some demonstrators have stayed overnight outside of the hospital since Thursday.
“This is the fear that people in this community have – that they will die, that people will die or be seriously injured without their local hospital,” said Liam Paiva-Acosta, co-chair of the Health Justice Working Group, North NJ DSA.
The hospital has been in the community for 150 years.
“They really served our community very well, and my family and me personally,” said former hospital employee Tom McIntosh, from Jersey City.
“They’re all trendy areas and growing more and more, and I think the real estate value of this by far is their priority, not the health care and the community,” Union City resident Mary Dooley said.
“It’s tough to see something like this go, but the community’s going to suffer for it and they won’t have that option anymore,” McIntosh said.
Demonstrators want to see the county and state implement a new plan to keep a hospital in the Heights neighborhood.
contributed to this report.