Survey to gauge impact of St. Catherine's maternity ward closure in Smithtown
Holly Meduri, left, and Marion Ciecirski, registered nurses who work in the maternity ward at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Catholic Health has hired an outside firm to survey Smithtown residents and assess how closing St. Catherine of Siena Hospital's maternity ward would impact the community as part of the state's process for permitting cutbacks in hospital services.
Unable to retain and recruit obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYNs), the hospital will cease delivering babies on Feb. 1, affecting its labor and delivery, postpartum and neonatal intensive care units, according to the health system and a nurses' union.
But the process of formally decertifying these units with the state Department of Health will take weeks — potentially months — and the roughly 60 registered nurses and other staff will be retained until that happens, Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, chief public and community health officer for Catholic Health, said at a community forum Thursday. Catholic Health would work with unions to try to shift these clinicians to other jobs if the state approves the closure, officials said.
“If there is a vulnerability or vulnerable part of the community that a closure of the maternity services will expose or perhaps lead to worse outcomes, we want to hear that,” Eisenstein said while speaking before more than 80 people gathered in the Smithtown Fire Department. “The independent entity is going to be writing a health equity impact assessment to make sure that, should there be any vulnerability created, that a corrective action plan is in place — and that's going to be necessary before the state can approve any of this.”
WHAT TO KNOW
- Routine deliveries of babies stop Feb. 1 at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown.
- The state has not yet decertified the maternity ward, which could take months.
- 60 nurses will remain on the job until the state approves the move.
- Surveys will gauge how the closure could impact the community.
Some of the dozens of nurses in the audience said they worried women would suffer because they have to travel farther for treatment. The nearest hospitals with delivery units are Stony Brook University Hospital, about 10 miles away, and Huntington Hospital, about 13 miles away. Families seeking another Catholic Health facility would need to drive about 16 miles to Good Samaritan University Hospital or 13 miles to St. Charles Hospital.
While awaiting state approval for the closures, Catholic Health will have a doctor on call at all times who can attend to obstetric and gynecological emergencies, including women in labor, said Dr. John Vullo, vice president of the OBGYN service line.
He noted that pregnant women tend to deliver at the hospital used by their doctor, so most patients will likely plan to give birth at other locations. If Sachs Policy Group, the firm hired to do the health equity assessment, finds it would be helpful, Catholic Health could try to establish an outpatient OBGYN clinic in the area, Vullo added.
Nurses questioned how hard Catholic Health worked to attract OBGYNs, saying the health system hadn't replaced doctors who gradually left over the years. Vullo said he was initially brought onto Catholic Health's corporate team to build up the maternity units at St. Catherine's and elsewhere, and the health system didn't want to see the ward close.
He said Catholic Health tried to negotiate with the remaining doctors, but they wound up leaving the physician group operating at St. Catherine's. Soon, they will no longer be able to deliver at the hospital because of non-compete-like clauses in their contracts.
“They all have choices,” Vullo said. “They're all getting solicited by Northwell, NYU and all the other programs that are out there.”
Nurses said they also worried about their livelihood. Vicki Shulman, who has been in the maternity ward for 35 years, said there aren't 60 nursing jobs nearby in labor and delivery, postpartum and neonatal units. She said it takes time for nurses to train in new specialties, and she needed more than six months to initially acclimate to obstetrics.
“I absolutely just love labor and delivery. It's my passion since nursing school,” said Shulman, of Ronkonkoma. “I have no idea, in 13 days, when my unit closes, what my future is.”
Long Islanders have until Jan. 26 to take the survey set up as part of the health equity assessment.
Sarina Trangle covers affordability and cost of living issues and other business topics. She previously worked as an editor and reporter at amNewYork.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
