King City, Calif.-based Mee Memorial Healthcare System has laid off 55 workers to help offset revenue declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to local news station KSBW.
Mee Memorial said that it has pursued financial assistance through the CARES Act and other programs, but "a significant funding gap remains."
To help close the funding gap, Mee Memorial said it also will suspend some specialty services, such as labor and delivery and cardiology. The system also said it will freeze hiring for some positions, cut salaries and suspend annual merit raises.
"These decisions are never made lightly," Mee Memorial's interim CEO Rena Salamacha, told KSBW. "We must place patient care first, but we deeply regret the hardship on laid-off staff and their families."