Premier announced earlier this year that it would shut down Good Samaritan Hospital, moving 1,600 jobs out of northwest Dayton.
The Dayton-based health system had previously said it would close Good Samaritan no later than Aug. 29 but hadn’t set a specific date.
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The announcement has received some community backlash over the loss of the anchor institution, and a group of clergy in May filed a federal complaint saying the closure is a civil rights violation of black residents now served by the hospital.
Good Samaritan is the closest hospital for 38,600 people — 75 percent of them African American, according to a study of travel times by the Kirwan Institute at Ohio State University, the complaint stated. The complaint also states that the loss of the hospital will harm women through the loss of maternal health care in an area with high rates of infant mortality.
Premier leaders have said the closure was a difficult but necessary decision to reduce unnecessary duplication of services, pointing to the high number of empty beds and the high cost of maintaining an inefficient and out-of-date facility when Premier has another hospital in the city, Miami Valley.
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With hospital stays on the decline and health care shifting to outpatient centers, the need for large hospitals has declined, Premier officials have said. The hospital will be torn down, and Premier also plans to give $10 million toward redeveloping the site.
The hospital has already started winding down operations, and the emergency department will close at noon on July 19. The closing time was previously reported as 11:59 p.m. July 19 but the time has since changed.
Obstetrics and gynecology was the first major health service to move out, and was transferred in April to Miami Valley Hospital.
The satellite locations – including Good Samaritan Health Center North in Englewood and Good Samaritan Health Center Huber Heights – will stay open but will be renamed Miami Valley to reflect the new main hospital they will be under.
The hospital dates back to 1928 when the Sisters of Charity and the community raised money to start construction on a new hospital in Dayton and has since been added on to many times.
Premier, with $1.7 billion in revenue, is the region’s largest private employer. Besides Good Samaritan, the health system operates Miami Valley Hospital, Atrium Medical Center, Upper Valley Medical Center, as well as a large network of physicians.
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