Concerns loom over future use of Northside Regional building
Concerns loom over what the future could look like for the building Northside Regional Medical Center will leave behind.
Concerns loom over what the future could look like for the building Northside Regional Medical Center will leave behind.
Steward Health Care System announced it plans to close Northside on September 20, citing years of declining patient demand.
Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti joined WFMJ Weekend Today Saturday morning to weigh in on the expected ripple effect the closure will have on the community.
"You have patient care that can be affected, you have people's livelihoods; nurses, doctors and all ancillary services that support the hospital," Traficanti said. "They're all going to be affected."
Traficanti says he reached out to a local hospital leader Paul Olivier, Vice President of Mercy Health, to see if the site could still have a future in the medical industry.
"I asked him that question and he says, because of the census problem, there's not enough patients to support a footprint the size of Northside Regional. He highly doubts anyone would come in and take that over," Traficanti said.
Traficanti says the building did undergo some recent upgrades and investment in its emergency room.
He believes Steward Health Care System could have done more to promote the hospital.
The future use of the building remains in limbo. Traficanti said he's been told some services will remain at the campus, but not many.
Our Print Partner the Vindicator reports that U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown plans to reach out to White House officials to see if Northside could be transformed into a Veteran's Affairs Clinic.