Buffalo, N.Y.-based Catholic Health plans to shutter its intensive care unit and end current inpatient services at its campus in Cheektowaga, N.Y.
The changes at the St. Joseph campus, announced March 19, will result in some employees losing their jobs. Catholic Health said it will work with affected employees to find them comparable employment opportunities within the health system.
Catholic Health said it plans to turn the inpatient facility into an ambulatory care center with an emergency department and outpatient services.
"Like many hospitals regionally and nationally pre-COVID, St. Joseph campus was seeing a sharp decline in its inpatient volume," said Mark Sullivan, president and CEO of Catholic Health. "With more and more healthcare services being provided on an outpatient basis, the location and design of St. Joseph Campus lends itself to becoming an active and thriving ambulatory care center."
The St. Joseph campus, which has been serving as a COVID-19 hospital for Catholic Health, will stop accepting COVID-19 patients April 1 and reopen its emergency department in May after completing some renovations. Its ICU will gradually close, Catholic Health said.
Catholic Health said that patients who come to the ED and need to be hospitalized will be stabilized and transferred to other Catholic Health facilities.