by Doug Cunningham
Registered nurses at Sturgis Hospital are urging hospital administrators to delay changes to close the oncology clinic, critical care and obstetrics units. A community town hall on the changes is planned Monday at 7 p.m. at the Sturgis Women’s Center.
The Sturgis Hospital Registered Nurses Council says people’s lives are at stake with these cuts – which came as a sudden surprise to nurses and to the community. Sixty people, including nurses, will be laid off at Sturgis Hospital.
Kelli Glick is an RN and President of the nurses union at the hospital. She says there are many questions for the hospital board about why it’s necessary to remove these essential services from Sturgis. Glick says the hospital has provided very little information about whether alternatives were considered and the lack of transparency, she says, is appalling.
“We’re just so concerned for our community and the patients that we care for. We’re born here, we have our kids here, grand-babies are born here. It’s a generational thing. You come to the hospital, your mom or brothers are admitted, you’re minutes away to be able to see them. I just hope that everybody in the community will support Sturgis Hospital even though I know that change are being made.”
When we reached out to Sturgis Hospital for comment on the decision to close these care units, Dr. Phyllis Youga replied by email that “We are not interested at this time. As you can imagine, it’s a very busy time here.”
Glick is urging people to come to the town hall meeting on the hospital unit closures Monday at 7 p.m. at the Sturgis Women’s Center behind the hospital.
