“Since the emergency department at Good Samaritan Hospital’s Philadelphia Drive location closed at noon on Thursday, we have had a handful of people seek medical attention at the campus,” Sutherly said via email on Sunday. “We have provided the appropriate care and guidance to those individuals.”
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The hospital remained open over the weekend despite the fact that it was no longer admitting any patients. Instead, the hospital was able to provide a list of nearby emergency departments and urgent care centers to those seeking treatment, Sutherly said.
Despite Good Sam’s emergency room closing on Thursday, wait times at Premier’s Miami Valley Hospital and Kettering’s Grandview Hospital remained relatively short on Sunday. The wait to see a doctor Sunday afternoon was listed at 23 minutes on Miami Valley Hospital’s website and 19 minutes at Grandview on Kettering Health’s website.
“We continue to see very strong demand for services at Miami Valley Hospital’s main campus and at Good Samaritan North Health Center,” Sutherly said. “This was anticipated, as one-third of the inpatient cases at Miami Valley Hospital came from Good Samaritan Hospital’s service area in 2016.”
Premier Health officials cited a number of reasons in their decision to ultimately close Good Samaritan Hospital for good. Officials said upkeep for the aging hospital campus was becoming very expensive, the facility was operating at half its capacity and many of its services are available five miles away at Miami Valley Hospital.
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At the time the closure was announced, many employees and local leaders said they were caught off guard by the news.
While the formal closure of a hospital might normally mean the end of its story, Premier Health is facing some backlash that could mean Good Sam isn’t completely closed quite yet.
Last week, the federal government launched an investigation into the closing of the facility. The federal probe will examine whether the Good Sam closure will have a disparate impact on African-American residents, according to a legal team of clergy who filed a civil rights complaint.
“Miami Valley Hospital will continue to — because of its location in the city of Dayton — will continue to meet the needs of that population,” Mike Maiberger, Premier’s executive vice president and chief operating officer told this news organization.
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