Hundreds laid off at St. Mary-Corwin

"Health care business is changing across the nation, health systems big and small are struggling in response to rising cost and constant change."

The CEO of St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center, Mike Cafasso, delivered some devastating news to the community of Pueblo on Thursday. Nearly 300 people were let go as the medical center, part of Centura Health, announced the closure of multiple services. The impacted people were given a sixty day notice.

"Our attempts in recent years here to stabilize our performance have fallen short and we are at a crossroads," Cafasso said addressing the media.

The medical center sent out a release reading "St. Mary-Corwin to transform healing ministry." It announced a new model of health care delivery stating it will maximize value for consumers.

"I think the important thing is that we begin to remove the dated unused portion of this campus which should have been done some time ago," Cafasso said.

Parkview Medical Center, a competitor to St. Mary-Corwin, responded to the announcement and sent out the following release:

This is devastating news for our community and it is incredibly disappointing to see Centura Health take such drastic action without some public discussion or effort to completely comprehend the incredible harm this will bring to our community. Along with the loss of jobs for several hundred professionals, there will also be strong concerns related to care access for many in our community. While Corwin has been our closest competitor in the Pueblo and Southern Colorado market, nobody is celebrating this decision. It abandons Puebloans in need of critical care and puts additional pressure not only on Parkview Medical Center but other regional health care facilities, many of which are at capacity today. Much like the recent closure of OB Services and Coumadin clinics, Parkview’s leadership and Board, while waiting for final details, has begun to explore options to address these new issues facing our community. Parkview Medical Center is proud to be an independent, locally governed hospital and its Board of Directors will continue efforts to care for our great community in light of this.