POTTSTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) — Planned service cuts and layoffs at Pottstown Hospital have nurses and staff members concerned that it’s the precursor to something worse.<\/p>\n
Now, they’re trying to rally support and stop the cutbacks.<\/p>\n
Tower Health, which purchased Pottstown Hospital in 2017, is closing the hospital’s intensive care center, cancer center, and endoscopy outpatient center.<\/p>\n
It’s also laying off more than 131 workers at the hospital.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Professionals, the union representing nurses and health professionals, held a rally on Monday to call out the cuts, which they say will also end inpatient surgery at the hospital.<\/p>\n
Tower Health says the claim that it’s stopping inpatient surgery at Pottstown Hospital is not true.<\/p>\n
“We’re losing our ICU. We’re losing half our hospital. We’re not just losing our jobs or our patients – our town is losing what they need,” said ICU patient care technician Christie Daub.<\/p>\n
Tower Health sent a statement to Action News that read in part, “These difficult decisions were not made lightly. They were made out of necessity to ensure that we can chart our own pathway forward and continue serving our communities.”<\/p>\n
Hospital staffers and community leaders, though, worry that the cuts are the precursor to something bigger.<\/p>\n
“When you cut the services that they have for cancer, for ICU, the next step is closure,” said Pottstown NAACP President Johnny Corson, who is also a cancer patient at Pottstown Hospital.<\/p>\n
Advocates worry that closing the hospital’s ICU means longer travel times for patients.<\/p>\n
“Time is critical in emergency situations. Now these patients will have to be transferred to other facilities,” said Pottstown Nurses United President Lori Domin.<\/p>\n
Pottstown Hospital staffers accuse the company of putting profit over patients. They’re asking Tower to halt the planned cuts before they affect patients.<\/p>\n
In an internal memo sent to employees, Tower Health President and CEO Michael Stern said that patients would still have options for care.<\/p>\n
“Almost all of the affected services will continue being offered at other sites within our network,” Stern said in the memo.<\/p>\n
Tower Health says health navigators are helping affected patients explore their options for care.<\/p>\n
The union representing workers here is asking Tower to engage in good-faith talks. The planned cuts and closures are scheduled to take place on January 16.<\/p>\n
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