YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The announcement Aug. 21 that bankrupt Steward Health Care Systems would close Trumbull Regional Medical Center, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital and ancillary facilities is a gut punch to the Mahoning Valley, the patients the hospitals and clinics treat and the hundreds of physicians, nurses and support staff they employ.
Steward – which filed bankruptcy in May – lacks the funds to operate the hospitals past Sept. 20, the scheduled closing date. The company’s empty purse is in stark contrast to the financial condition of its CEO, Ralph de la Torre. His lavish lifestyle was documented extensively Aug. 18 in a Wall Street Journal story that cited self-dealings, his ownership of a yacht, a sportfishing boat, an 11,108-square-foot mansion and a 500-acre ranch, as well as his trip to Paris to attend equestrian events at the Summer Olympics.
Who cares if Rome is burning?
Mercy Health, which operates hospitals in Youngstown, Warren and Boardman along with other medical centers, says it is prepared “to help offer a smooth transition for patients.” Mercy is hosting open houses for potential job seekers who would be displaced by the closings. Bravo.
In Massachusetts, where Steward is closing two hospitals and possibly more, the commonwealth’s attorney general intervened and offered $30 million to keep the hospitals operating. The governor subsequently invoked eminent domain to take control of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton and turn over its operations to Boston Medical Center.
In Pennsylvania, where Sharon Regional Medical Center is the only hospital Steward operates in the commonwealth, the attorney general has also intervened in the bankruptcy case to avert its closure.
But in Ohio, as of press time Aug. 22, state officials offered nothing more than anodyne statements of support. Conspicuously silent was Attorney General Dave Yost, who certainly is not publicity shy.
This is a situation that clearly demands state intervention. The potential loss of Trumbull Regional and Hillside threatens health care capacity in our community. Health care workers and support staff – lionized as heroes four years ago, going into work to provide care at the height of the pandemic – deserve more than lip service. And the profiteers whose greed bled these and other Steward facilities dry should go to jail.