There was no last minute reprieve for the Cornwall Emergency Room. It closed on Jan. 12, as promised.
In its last days, the facility accepted at least one emergency patient who was diverted from Newburgh, and the Emergency Room appeared in a press release from Assemblyman James Skoufis.
He reported that hospital executives had turned down offers from two local providers who would have paid rent to operate an urgent care center in the former Emergency Room space.
The hospital confirmed that it received the offers, and turned them down because there would have been a duplication of services. “Our partners in the community,” Kate Dabroski wrote, “are currently providing urgent care within a very close proximity to the Cornwall campus.” Mrs. Dabroski is the hospital’s AVP for Marketing and Public Relations.
The Assemblyman is anxious to beef up urgent care options in the area to make up for the loss of the emergency room in Cornwall.
The hospital had opened a priority care unit next to the Emergency Room at the start of 2015. But the experiment didn’t work. A shortage of patients prompted the hospital to close the unit in the fall.
After the Emergency Room closed on Jan. 12, a staffed Mobile Life ambulance was stationed in the parking lot around the clock for seven days. The Department of Health requires the ambulance to be there in case patients show up seeking emergency care. Mrs. Dabroski said the hospital would have provided the service (out of concern for its patients) even if it wasn’t mandated. “We have had an inter-facility transfer agreement with Mobile Life Support Services for several years,” she said, “and this was simply an extension for seven days.”
During the week, the ambulance staff kept busy answering questions from the public. Several people inquired whether the entire building was closed or just the emergency wing. There are still some departments in the building, and more are promised for the future.
An ambulance crew member explained the assignment, saying that even if there was an emergency at the other end of the campus, he was not allowed to leave his post. He said that ambulances had provided a similar service after the closing of Arden Hill and Horton Hospitals.
