by Kristina Gabalski
It’s felt something like the death of a dear loved one, the closing this week of Lakeside Memorial Hospital. Words like “sad,” “bleak,” “discouraging,” and “devastating” have been used by local residents and municipal and Lakeside Health System officials in describing the loss that the community is feeling.
As of midnight, Friday, April 26, closure plans for Lakeside Memorial Hospital were scheduled to be nearly complete. No new patients were expected to be seen in the Emergency Room by late afternoon on Friday and diagnostic, imaging and lab services were also scheduled to cease. The Wellness, Respiratory, Occupational Health and Physical Therapy departments were also scheduled to close on Friday.
The closing came after two months of hopes that the hospital would be able to maintain the ER and transform the facility into an outpatient diagnostic and treatment center.
As recently as April 9, Interim CEO Jim Cummings had said Lakeside was feeling optimistic that support from state and national legislative representatives would result in the state providing funding to help keep Lakeside open.
During a phone interview on April 23, the day after Lakeside announced the closure process, Cummings told the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald that the closing has been hard on medical staff, employees and the community which now must abruptly seek other avenues of care.
He noted the history of the hospital goes back 80 years in the community. “People have had their children there. Parents have passed away there. It’s frightening to suddenly not have it be there – the closing evokes (many) memories.”
Cummings also responded to published reports that the NYS Department of Health was provided with an incomplete application for funding to help the hospital stay open.
“I was shocked to hear the comment,” Cummings said. “The Department of Health specifically told me the application was denied due to lack of funds being available in the time frame we needed. Never did I hear it was incomplete or needed additional information.”
He continued to stress that the Beikirch Care Center, “will stay open … there is no time frame,” he said.
The Urgent Care in Spencerport will also stay open and Cummings says, “We have had several individual organizations inquire about taking (it) over. It could transition to another operator in a short time period or could close and then re-open.”
Lakeside is not the first small community hospital to close and as Cummings said during a neighborhood meeting Monday, April 22, it won’t be the last.
“I dare say you will see more community hospitals suffering the same plight,” he noted, due to the fact the health care system is moving to larger, more centralized care facilities.
“We’re keeping people healthier,” he said and explained that lower acuity cases which were the bulk of Lakeside admissions are now handled on an out-patient basis. “There aren’t as many in-patient stays,” he said.
Lakeside currently has a $4.2 million mortgage, Cummings said during the community meeting April 22, and officials had asked the state for $5 million in funding to help support the hospital through its transition phase.
Lakeside Health System would like to continue to rent out offices to physicians and Interlakes Oncology, Cummings said, “… and make provisions to carry on.”
People will continue to work in medical records at Lakeside, Cummings said, as well as in billing and collection. Housekeeping, security and maintenance staff will also remain on board.
Community reaction
Despite the ups and downs the hospital has experienced over the past year, the end came so quickly, it caught many off-guard.
“It’s awful,” Sweden Supervisor Pat Connors said. “I was speechless when I saw the announcement. It’s devastating. It goes to show that we take a lot of things for granted.”
Brockport Village Trustee Margaret Blackman called the closing and loss of services “incredibly sad,” A professor emeritus of anthropology at the College at Brockport, Trustee Blackman said, “people at the college are terribly upset.”
The loss of jobs will also impact the community, Blackman said and worried whether the good primary care providers that have rented offices at Lakeside will choose to stay.
During the Brockport Village Board meeting April 23, Blackman said the closing “took us by surprise.” She noted that the ramifications of the closing will continue to be felt as time goes on.
Brockport Mayor Connie Castaneda said she had met with Jim Cummings recently. “I know they pursued every option possible,” she said. “It’s devastating to the community. It’s especially sad news for the employees and medical staff, volunteers and the community.”
During his report, Brockport Police Chief Daniel Varrenti said his officers will now have to travel to Unity, Strong or Rochester General when the need arises.It is not insurmountable, Varrenti said, “but it will spread our services out a little more. I am more sorry for the community. It will impact us and we will react in a professional, efficient way.”
Trustee Kent Blair, who recently became a member of the Brockport Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said the community is going to have to realize that there will be no more “15 minute rides to Lakeside. Monroe Ambulance (the primary responder to the towns of Sweden and Clarkson) is going to be gone for two hours.” Blair said that means Brockport Ambulance will play a more crucial role as back-up for the two towns.
David Rice, president of the Brockport Volunteer Ambulance Corps, told the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald the closing of Lakeside is a significant loss for the community. He said Lakeside has been a valuable partner with Brockport Ambulance for 51 years, especially recently when Brockport Ambulance took over ambulance operations from the village.
“This is an unfortunate turn of events that no one in the Brockport community wanted to happen,” Rice says. “The Ambulance Corps is trying to be proactive to lessen the impact of Lakeside’s closing and I hope that residents feel that sense of community, as well, and may want to try to help us help them. We are always in need of volunteers and even if it is only a few people who ultimately step up and volunteer, it is greatly appreciated by us and lessens the negative impact of this news on everyone.”
Rice says the Ambulance has been planning over the past few months for the possibility that Lakeside would close. “We are looking at our options and working with neighboring ambulances to make sure we are still able to cover emergency calls in a timely manner just as we do now. While additional time will likely be required for transport to an emergency department once we get to a patient, the 911 dispatch system and mutual aid plans in the region are set up to minimize the potential for extended response times to additional requests for service.”
Residents of eastern Orleans County have depended heavily on Lakeside for emergency and hospital care. Jason Spencer, Administrator of the Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance Service (COVA) said until now about half of their calls have been taken to Lakeside and the other half to Medina Memorial on the western side of Orleans County. He says the ambulance has also been making more runs to United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia recently.
Spencer said the closing of Lakeside would mean an increase in transport time of about 30-40 minutes for those people being taken to a hospital in Monroe County, but that the ambulance is equipped to handle that. “I think we’re good,” Spencer said. He noted that if a patient is critical, taking them to Unity would not be a possibility. Situations like shortness of breath would mean patients would have to be taken “to the closest facility.” That would likely be either Medina or Batavia, he said.
