Cleveland-based Sisters of Charity Health System has undergone significant changes over the last few years, shifting from running five hospitals across South Carolina and Ohio to now working solely to address social determinants of health.
"We want to make sure as an organization that has been providing healthcare for a very long time, if it's not going to be us, we want to make sure we have partners who will do the work on our behalf," Michael Goar, president and CEO of Sisters of Charity Health System told Becker's.
Prior to serving in his current role, Mr. Goar served as president and CEO of Catholic Charities of St. Paul-Minneapolis in Minnesota. While he is not a hospital administrator by training, he has a significant education and a social services background, which will help guide the organization through its transformation.
"[W]e are sort of pivoting our organization from traditional healthcare to a wide range of services that we think will influence access for quality of healthcare."
The organization shared plans to demolish its last hospital, Cleveland-based St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, in November. The hospital closed its inpatient and emergency department care in November of 2022 and transitioned its psychiatric emergency services unit to Cleveland-based MetroHealth's new psychiatric emergency department on June 30.
When Mr. Goar began his new role in August, the organization's board set aside $12 million for the former hospital building to be demolished in the first quarter of 2025. Once the hospital is demolished, Mr. Goar said they will engage closely with the community to determine what to do with the vacant space.
"We are very focused on engaging with our community to make sure that folks who live in the community have an opportunity to weigh in," he said. "[W]e'll have the opportunity to really figure out strategically how we can serve the community with intentionality in mind."
The organization is also focused on partnering with strong entities to address behavioral needs in the community.
"Our mission is all about serving underserved communities in a very intentional way with high quality services," Mr. Goar said. "If we're not doing it anymore, we want to make sure that we have a community partner that is really great at what they're doing. We're really pleased to say that we have identified and they agree to relocate onto our campus to provide both family care as well as behavioral health services."