As Northside Hospital in Youngstown prepares to close next month, the nurses who have worked there for decades said it's a sad day. 

Steward Health, the parent company of Northside Hospital, said the hospital continues to be under-utilized, that on any given day, four out of five beds are empty, and that's not sustainable.  

The president of the General Duty Nurses Association said when Steward took over it talked about growing the hospital.

"Now here we are today, and they're closing just shortly after a year of being here, and we don't have any growth of services, no growth of doctors, so it's very disappointing and sad for the employees and the community," said YGDNA President Lori Hornberger. 

Besides the association's 188 nurses, the closing will cost the jobs of other medical personnel and a large number of hospital service employees. 

Hornberger said it will also affect expectant mothers and that Northside is the only labor and delivery in Youngstown. 

The hospital is holding a series of meetings with employees to discuss the closing and will also hold job fairs to assist displaced workers. 

The nurses were currently in contract negotiations and had offered to make concessions.

"The nurses were willing to extend our contract for a year and take a zero percent wage increase for a year to try to help this hospital," said Hornberger.

The majority of nurses at Northside have more than 20 years of service.

Steward Health Care also operates other local hospitals in the area.

The largest, private, for-profit hospital operator in the U.S. controls Sharon Regional Medical Center, Trumbull Regional Medical Center Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Warren. 

This network of hospitals also operates several affiliated outpatient facilities throughout the Mahoning and Shenango valleys.