On Aug. 22, the Washington-based not-for-profit healthcare system, PeaceHealth, announced that it would begin closing its University District Hospital in Eugene. Its remaining services, most notably the emergency services, will be transferred over to PeaceHealth’s RiverBend location in Springfield by November. PeaceHealth says that the ambulatory and behavioral health services will remain in operation in Eugene “until there is a sustainable alternative in the community.”
PeaceHealth said in a statement that the closure of University District Hospital is due to falling patient volume, with fewer than 16 patients being admitted per month on average as inpatients and the hospital losing approximately $2 million per month.
PeaceHealth claims that it remains committed to providing quality healthcare to its patients and that its RiverBend location will provide an “enhanced care experience.”
Critics of PeaceHealth’s decision, such as Kevyn Paul, a member of the Oregon Nurses Association and a University District Hospital nurse, said at a Sept. 11 rally in opposition to the closure that the reason for the University District Hospital’s unprofitability is because PeaceHealth pulled more profitable services from the hospital.
The closure will leave Oregon’s second largest city without easy access to emergency services, a move that local elected leaders and the Oregon Nurses Association says will cost lives.
Lucy Vinis, the mayor of Eugene, said that the city was not consulted by PeaceHealth about their plans to close the University District Hospital. It was informed about the closure only a week prior to PeaceHealth’s public announcement.
“We had no warning this was coming,” she said. Vinis said had PeaceHealth given the city more time, it could have been better prepared by calibrating how it would use its personnel and equipment.
Vinis said she was under the impression that the city and PeaceHealth had a mutual understanding that having emergency services on the south side of the river, where most of Eugene’s population resides, was a priority for the city.
“There are approximately 4,500 trips to an emergency room in a year. The city’s emergency department estimated that the average round trip for an ambulance traveling from Eugene to the PeaceHealth Riverbend location would increase from 25 to 30 minutes,” Vinis said. “Think about what that means to a person in west Eugene who has a heart attack, or a house fire, or another life threatening crisis, lives will be lost.”
Vinis also expressed her concern for citizens’ access to emergency services if there is a natural catastrophe, such as a Cascadia event, warning that a major disaster could destroy or block infrastructure such as bridges that are used to cross the Willamette, leaving many Eugenians stranded on “the wrong side of the river.”
At the rally on Sept. 11 in opposition to the closure, Ann Tan Piazza, the executive director of the Oregon Nurses Association, accused PeaceHealth of “putting profits over patients” and jeopardizing the health and safety of the community. Tan Piazza also said that the ONA will remain committed to “bringing the full strength of our resources and membership to fight and hold PeaceHealth accountable.”
At the same Sept. 11 rally, Vinis made a public appeal to state leadership. “I call on Governor Kotek and the Oregon Health Authority,” Vinis said, “to force [PeaceHealth] to meet their obligations to provide healthcare to this community and deny this closure.”
Vinis’ remarks marked an increase in rhetoric as opposed to the statements she made earlier in the week. Previously, Vinis requested that the OHA either deny closure or impose “conditions” for closure, such as a delay, to give the city more time to prepare.
Carson Houchen, a third-year student at UO who lives near the University District Hospital, said he was happy to see that behavioral health facilities would remain open. However, he expressed concern that “a lot of students will have a much harder time getting care in Springfield,” but added that “it didn’t seem that a lot of students were getting care at the University District location anyway.”
This statement is backed up by the fact that only 16 patients on average were being admitted per month.
Vinis said that she has “no way of knowing” whether the OHA will grant her request to deny PeaceHealth permission to close their University District Hospital. This is not the first time PeaceHeath has faced backlash over cost cutting measures.
In April, they announced that they would be reducing bed capacity at both the RiverBend and University District locations. PeaceHealth’s outlined plan to close the University District Hospital by November is still pending regulatory approval by the OHA, although it is unclear when that approval will, or will not, come.
RiverBend Hospital is located on Riverbend Dr. in Springfield, Ore. PeaceHealth announced, on Aug. 22, 2023, that the University District hospital has begun the process of shutting down. The emergency department, inpatient rehabilitation, and other medical services plan to be transferred to the RiverBend Hospital in Springfield, Ore. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
