By Gina Morton
Barbara Farber said employees of Evangelical Community Hospital's Home Health have come in regularly to take care of her elderly aunt since August 2003.
But recently, Farber received a letter from the hospital that said service to her 92-year-old aunt, Mary Loboda, is being discontinued. Being 70 herself, she has relied on the service to help with her aunt's bathing, cooking and other personal-care needs.
"They are highly qualified," the Selinsgrove resident said. "Some are certified in CPR, can do simple dressing changes. They can do quite a bit. They're well-educated and well-trained for the job."
Officials of the Lewisburg hospital said the service is one of several being eliminated, in part because there are ample other providers in the region.
In addition to Home Health, the hospital is closing the Park Drive Family Medicine office in Montgomery and Evangelical's HomeCare Pharmacy. The hospital will continue to have an inpatient pharmacy, but will phase out the retail service. In addition, HomeCare Products will discontinue its retail service, but provide in-home equipment and supplies.
Angela Brouse, assistant director of public relations, said the changes will be implemented during the next six to 12 months.
Though some programs have been cut, she said the hospital hopes none of the affected employees will lose their jobs.
"It's enough time that we're hoping we'll be able to move a lot of these employees to positions within the hospital they're trained for, or work with other health-care facilities to get them a position," she said. "Hopefully, it will just be a transition."
The hospital cut 28 jobs in March, the only layoffs so this year.
Brouse said the programs are being discontinued because they are under-used. With such an abundance of outpatient prescription locations available, she said the hospital can't be competitive with other outlets.
"Same with Home Health," she said. "We have a great service, but there's a lot of others in the area as well. That's a service that is under-utilized."
She said hospital officials are working with other area organizations to help with the transition of both staff and patients to other services. "Hopefully, it will be a seamless transition," she said.
The hospital said Evangelical Home Health will be transitioned to a new home health provider, enabling it to serve more patients and the hospital to redirect resources to other needs in the community. Evangelical Hospice will continue to offer end-of-life care and will not go to a new provider.
The Evangelical Medical Service Organization opened a primary-care office in Montgomery in 2000, but found there was a lower-than-anticipated need for the services. In March, rehabilitation and radiology services were closed at the practice due to decreased demand.
The decisions are part of a strategic plan for the hospital.
"Our strategic planning began more than a year ago," said Michael O'Keefe, president and CEO. "We understand that change can be unsettling. And we are committed to making the transition to these new service opportunities as smooth as possible for our patients, employees and our community. As a result, Evangelical will be well-positioned to continue providing the highest level of health care to our community."
