O’Fallon hospital’s system lays off 10% of employees instead of reinstating them
Hospital Sisters Health System, which operates five hospitals in Southern Illinois, has laid off about 10% of its workforce.
Most of those losing their jobs are “non-clinical” employees who were furloughed this spring, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in the number of patients seeking treatment, according to a statement emailed this week by Kelly Barbeau, spokeswoman for St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon, in response to a BND inquiry.
“Now that we are able to offer elective procedures again, we’re seeing a rebound in the number of patients coming to us for care, and we are pleased to announce we are inviting back the majority of colleagues that had been placed on furlough a few months ago,” the statement said.
“However, we are unable to bring back all of these furloughed colleagues. In order to provide the best chance for a strong, stable future for HSHS through and after this unpredictable pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to reduce approximately 10% of our workforce in Illinois and Wisconsin.”
HSHS also operates St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese, Holy Family Hospital in Greenville and St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital in Effingham.
The statement didn’t give the number of layoffs. The system was employing more than 15,000 people at 15 hospitals and other health-care facilities when its website was last updated.
Officials at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital declined to be interviewed for this story.
“We remain strongly committed to providing high quality healthcare and to making a positive difference in the lives of our patients and our communities, especially in this time of great need,” the statement read.
Furloughs at Memorial, too
Memorial Regional Health Services, which is part of the St. Louis-based BJC Healthcare system, also has furloughed employees at Memorial Hospital Belleville and Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh due to the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.
Those hospitals have not laid off any employees, spokeswoman Anne Thomure said Wednesday.
“We’ve had furloughed employees return to work, and we still have some furloughed employees on the (callback) list,” she said. “We’re continuing to assess.”
Memorial President Mike McManus has talked about challenges his hospitals have faced during news briefings live-streamed on Facebook by St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency. He said revenue was down 40% for a long period, mainly because elective procedures such as knee replacements weren’t being offered.
Memorial, like St. Elizabeth’s, is building back up with elective procedures, but McManus warned on July 20 that a significant and sustained rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the metro-east region could halt that trend.
“We’re concerned that it’s impacting our ability to keep our elective side of our business going,” he said.
Full hospital statement
Here’s the full statement from St. Elizabeth’s about layoffs:
“Hospital Sisters Health System continues to stand proudly behind its entire staff that is providing critically important services as the communities we serve deal with COVID-19.
“Earlier this year, the pandemic shifted how patients preferred or were allowed to use their local healthcare services, and HSHS saw a significant decline in the number of patients coming to our facilities. That led to negative financial impacts, and we had to make changes to our workforce including furloughs and executive pay reductions.
“Now that we are able to offer elective procedures again, we’re seeing a rebound in the number of patients coming to us for care, and we are pleased to announce we are inviting back the majority of colleagues that had been placed on furlough a few months ago.
“However, we are unable to bring back all of these furloughed colleagues. In order to provide the best chance for a strong, stable future for HSHS through and after this unpredictable pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to reduce approximately 10% of our workforce in Illinois and Wisconsin.
“The majority of these colleagues are non-clinical. We remain strongly committed to providing high quality healthcare and to making a positive difference in the lives of our patients and our communities, especially in this time of great need.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
