Layoffs and department closures are fueling fears that a South Florida hospital that has been around for seven decades could be on the brink of shutting down.
Roxey Nelson leads the union representing healthcare workers at North Shore Medical Center, located at 1100 NW 95th St. in the unincorporated Pinewood area of Miami-Dade County.
More than 150 of them are now looking for new jobs.
“North Shore Medical Center serves a population that is an immigrant, North Miami, Haitian, Black population,” Nelson told Local 10 News Wednesday. “They were born there, their kids were born there, right? So, it’s generational that people get their services and their women’s services from that facility.”
Hospital management sent a memo saying the medical center would be discontinuing its behavioral health unit, along with its NICU, effective this month, and maternity services, starting in March.
A notice Local 10 News was told was posted on Valentine‘s Day said obstetric services would no longer be provided.
“That level of uncertainty is not good for the community, and it’s not good for the people who work there,” said Nelson.
In the memo, North Shore management cites an overwhelming number of patients who don’t pay, underinsured patients and inadequate Medicaid reimbursements.
Nelson said the hospital and the community can’t afford not to have a care center.
“North Shore Medical Center is a critical part of the care delivery system in Miami-Dade County, and so it’s critical for us to make sure it is there,” said Nelson. “What we know for sure is that the workers who are left there, the workers who are still working at North Shore, and the other Steward hospitals in Florida, are going to do their best to provide the best quality care that they can.”
Local 10 News has reached out to Steward Health Care, which not only owns North Shore Medical Center, but hospitals in Coral Gables, Hialeah and Lauderdale Lakes, according to the company website, but has not heard back at the time of this story’s publishing.
Concern over Steward’s health as a company has extended to Massachusetts. Boston ABC affiliate WCVB reports that its governor has called on Steward to sell its hospitals in the state over financial troubles.
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