Friday's court action granting a temporary restraining order gives both sides a reprieve to prepare for the Feb. 1 evidence hearing.
MASSILLON Action by a Stark County judge on Friday granting a temporary restraining order and setting a date to hear evidence on the pending closure of Affinity Medical Center offers a glimmer of hope, officials said.
On Friday, Stark County Common Pleas Judge Chryssa Hartnett approved a request by the city and a group of Affinity physicians for a temporary restraining order seeking to delay the hospital's Feb. 4 closing.
A preliminary injunction hearing is set for 9 a.m. Feb. 1. Hartnett will then decide whether the hospital must remain open for 120 days. The city also is asking that Affinity not close any of its offices where Affinity doctors provide patient care.
"This gives us hope that good things can happen," Massillon Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry said following Friday's court action.
While the city was successful in getting the temporary restraining order, next month's hearing in front of Judge Hartnett could change everything. The judge is set to hear testimony from both sides regarding the closing and is expected to rule whether her 120-day stay will remain.
Dr. Nash Gabrail, an oncologist at Affinity and part of a group of physicians exploring the possibility of buying the hospital, said he believes Hartnett based her decision on ethical issues rather than legal issues.
"You can't legally be forced to continue business," he said. "But the judge understands the very quick and unexpected decision (to close) that no one had a clue it was happening."
For now, the judge's ruling gives those fighting to keep a hospital here more time to make a case for extending the timeline 120 days. An extension would give Gabrail and others time to come up with a solid plan to show Quorum Health, Affinity's parent company, that they have serious investors, or another entity to buy the hospital.
In the 12 days before the hearing, the mayor is putting together a health and welfare committee to examine the options to save the medical facility, including courting a new group to purchase it.
The mayor has suggested Quorum could donate the property to the city. She believes it would cost a minimum of $1 million a year, including approximately $525,000 in property taxes, to maintain the property.
Gabrail said Quorum has maintained it sought buyers and no one was interested. However, Gabrail's group has publicly stated it wants to buy the facility and Quorum has not acknowledged it.
"You would think they would pick up the phone and say, 'let's talk'," he said. "It just confirms my suspicion they are not interested in selling."
Affinity's registered nurses, represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Ohio/National Nurses United, applauded the judge's decision to issue a temporary restraining order. The union hopes to meet with Quorum officials "to demand the hospital remain fully operational, with continuing of care and full services, at least until a new operator is secured," a news release states.
Catazaro-Perry criticized Quorum's handling of the closing.
Hospital officials never reached out to the city to discuss Affinity's health, she said, adding, typically a company facing financial trouble will seek help from the city before taking drastic measures.
She believes hospital operators never asked doctors to take a pay cut or developed a cost containment plan.
"I'm just disappointed," Catazaro-Perry said. "Even some of the board members told us they weren't told about the problems. It's a really poor way of doing business in a community that has been so committed (to the hospital)."
Care for cardiac events, strokes and traumas continue to top the mayor's list of concerns.
"We are doing our very best and we are giving it everything we got," she said.
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