FULTON, NY – Talks between A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital and Oswego Health appeared to come to a halt this past week as Oswego Health announced it would not pursue a partnering agreement with Lee Memorial. The following day, Lee announced it was starting to pursue talks with health care facilities in Onondaga County.
Some are still hopeful that an agreement can be reached between the two Oswego County facilities, however.”Never say never,” Assemblyman Will Barclay said Friday afternoon.
“I still believe that the best solution is for Oswego Health and Lee Memorial to reach an agreement,” Barclay said. “I am hopeful that something can be put together and I am going to continue to work toward that.”
Nancy Bellow, head of the Oswego Health board, said that she and the Oswego Hospital administrator met Friday with Barclay and Senator Darrel Aubertine.
“Assemblyman Barclay asked us if there is an opportunity that we would consider a different approach,” Bellow said.
Bellow said that Oswego Health believes it is best to keep the control and support of Oswego County health care in Oswego County.
“If Lee links with an outside facility, some of those resources would be diverted,” she said. “We don’t believe that’s good for Oswego County.”
The biggest obstacle to an agreement, Bellow said, was the proposal that Lee submitted. Bellow said, too, that she would be interested to know if Lee Memorial is talking with other facilities about the same proposal that Oswego was given this month.
“If it isn’t, we’d want to talk about what the different proposal might be,” she said.
“We basically said ‘no’ to the proposal that Lee Memorial handed to us June 6,” Bellow added. “We said it was unworkable financially and clinically. We are willing to collaborate but not on an unworkable proposal. I guess the rest is up to Lee.”
The organizer for the union representing workers at Lee Memorial Hospital says most are hoping something can be done to keep the hospital’s emergency room and inpatient beds open, but some are leaving for more secure jobs and others are trying to leave.
Michael Farrell, administrative organizer for the union, 1199SEIU, tells the Daily News that he remains hopeful that Lee Memorial will find a partner hospital in Syracuse.
A state commission recommended closing the ER and inpatient beds at Lee Memorial, converting the facility to an outpatient and “urgent care” facility, as part of a statewide push to reduce the cost of health care. The ER and inpatient beds were scheduled to close at the end of the month under the Berger Commission‘s original recommendations, however, the hospital has said it will remain open while it pursues a partner.
Richard Abbott, head of the Lee Memorial board, said that the state Department of Health has indicated that the June 30 deadline is flexible.
Farrell says the union “is preparing and assisting our members at Lee Memorial for all possible outcomes.” That means the union is working with the hospital to provide training for new skills and job placement services, among other things.
“Some folks are taking advantage of the opportunities,” Farrell said. “Some have already left. But there are also health care workers who are holding out hope and staying. We’re talking about folks who’ve been working 30 years or more. There are a lot of folks who are dedicated and want to stay and work there but at the same time, they’re being realistic.”
The union has offered to help the hospital in its pursuit of a potential partner, Farrell says, but the union has not been at the table for the discussions with Oswego Health.
Note: Managing Editor Dave Bullard contributed to this report.
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MOST OF WHAT OSWEGO HEALTH SEEMS TO BE SAYING TO ME IS THAT IF LEE PARTNERS WITH A SYRACUSE HOSPITAL THE WILL LOSE MONEY AND THAT THEY OSWEGO HEALTH SHOULD HAVE CONTROL OF HEALTH FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTY.