Bankrupt Lockport hospital cuts 80 jobs, ending on-site surgery and closing ICU

Nov. 12--Eastern Niagara Hospital, which is headed toward eventual closure because of a bankruptcy filing and a deal with Catholic Health, announced Thursday that it will cut 80 jobs as it begins to shed some of its functions.

The Lockport hospital announced it plans to do away with all surgery at its main site on East Avenue and also wants to shut down its little-used intensive care unit.

The cutbacks will take effect once they are approved by the state Health Department. A hospital spokeswoman said verbal approval came from Albany Thursday afternoon.

The news came a month after ENH announced a management agreement with Catholic Health that called for the Buffalo-based group to construct a new $37 million hospital somewhere in the Lockport area.

After that facility opens, perhaps in 2023, Eastern Niagara will go out of business.

The Lockport hospital, saddled with more than $14 million in debt it couldn't pay, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a year ago.

In a legal maneuver, the hospital temporarily dropped its bankruptcy filing in June in order to make itself eligible for federal Paycheck Protection Program aid tied to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After it received $5.85 million from Washington, Eastern Niagara refiled its bankruptcy case.

That federal aid has all been spent on salaries, hospital President and CEO Anne E. McCaffrey said in Thursday's news release.

"As we prepare to move forward with our future plans for health care across the region, it's important that we make these last changes and be cost-effective for the next two years and beyond," McCaffrey said. "Our new partnership with Catholic Health presents us with many innovative opportunities to create service integrations. We are proactively designing our health care services today to match the future hospital to be constructed."

"We are committed to serving the community for the long term," said Ann Briody Petock, chairwoman of the Eastern Niagara board of directors.

"Implementing these changes are the final steps needed in our restructuring and no further modifications are anticipated at this time. These last steps will ultimately ensure our Hospital is able to serve the community and prepare us for a stronger future with our new partners at Catholic Health," Briody Petock said.

Eastern Niagara's outpatient surgery center on South Transit Road in the Town of Lockport will remain open. That's where 75% to 80% of the hospital's surgical procedures already are being done.

The hospital is on track to have 380 inpatient surgeries and 910 outpatient surgeries this year at the East Avenue hospital itself, spokeswoman Carolyn Moore said.

But volume at the South Transit site is three times higher and has been rising, while surgeries at the main hospital never returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Any Lockport patients needing intensive care will be transferred to the nearest Catholic Health ICU, which would be at Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston if beds are available there. The Eastern Niagara ICU has been averaging one to three patients a day, the hospital's statement said.

On Oct. 26, Bankruptcy Court approved the $1 million sale of the former Newfane Inter-Community Memorial Hospital, owned by Eastern Niagara, to a Florida investor who told local officials he was interested in converting it to an assisted living facility or senior-citizen apartments.

McCaffrey said Catholic Health currently has 200 job openings, so she was confident many of the 80 full-time equivalents being laid off would find work there.

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