TT News

November 11, 2009

Tyler Hospital gets a new lease on life

Wyoming County’s only hospital forms partnership with Mercy Health Partners.

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
Andrew M. Seder on Facebook   |   @TLAndrewSeder on Twitter

TUNKHANNOCK TWP. – Faced with the potential that Wyoming County’s only hospital could scale back services or even close, Tyler Memorial Hospital officials reached out for a lifeline.

The result was announced Tuesday afternoon; Tyler Memorial and Mercy Health Partners formed a partnership that will take effect Jan. 1. Mercy Health Partners will assume the obligations, resources and personnel of Tyler, making the new entity, Mercy Tyler, a member hospital of Cincinnati-based Catholic Healthcare Partners.

Locally it joins Mercy Hospital, an acute care hospital in Scranton, Mercy Special Care Hospital in Nanticoke, and three outpatient centers located in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

Mercy Scranton President Kevin Cook and Tyler Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer Denise S. Gieski announced the transaction during a formal signing ceremony on Tyler’s front lawn.

The search for stability started in 2008 when the board of directors of the small, independent, nonprofit Tyler Memorial began seeking ways to overcome significant financial challenges, Gieski said.

Gladys Bernet, a spokeswoman for Tyler, said the board’s decision to seek a partner was a tough but necessary step.

“It’s getting increasingly difficult for small, rural hospitals to continue their standalone status,” Bernet said.

Tyler chose Mercy after reviewing proposals from a number of providers, Gieski added.

“Mercy’s commitment to medical excellence and their mission were very attractive to those of us in the community who reviewed what they brought to the table,” Gieski said.

Cook said the partnership appeared to be good for all involved.

“Tyler has done an excellent job of delivering quality community health care to people close to home,” he said. “Together we will be able to build upon mutual strengths, extend medical leadership and our healing ministry in ways that will benefit everyone who comes to us for care.”

Gieski said that during the next two months, hospital officials will be busy attending to the details of merging the facilities. She said the goal is to make the transition smooth and barely noticeable to patients.

Established in a converted hotel in Meshoppen in 1948, Tyler Memorial Hospital was the result of a grassroots community effort to create a health center in the region. It moved to its current location off Route 6 in 1965. It has 58 beds and 39 active physicians on a staff of 330.

Bernet said employees were told of the agreement Tuesday morning and there were no plans to reduce staff on Jan. 1, although everything will be evaluated in the coming months.

Gieski said the only difference she foresees is that those employees “will be Mercy employees at that point doing the same thing they were doing Dec. 31.”

Mercy employs 1,200 with an active physician roster of 236 and 288 beds between its local facilities. Mercy workers are unionized but Gieski said Tyler’s workers are not.

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