The Oncology Clinic at St. Vincent Frankfort Hospital will be closing at the end of August as part of a continuing restructuring of St. Vincent Frankfort Hospital and the St. Vincent Health System.
Because the clinic had only a few patients the move is not expected to have a major impact on hospital operations, according to Administrator Tom Crawford.
“We just didn’t have as many patients as we have in the past,” Crawford said. “A lot of it is done outpatient. People want to travel to an oncologist to see them more on a demand basis. Our oncologist only came twice (per month).”
The service will be discontinued when current patients finish their treatments. One nursing job will be eliminated at the hospital as a result of the change.
Patients needing follow-up care or examinations are being referred to St. Joseph Hospital in Kokomo, St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Witham Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, IU Health Arnett and Fransiscan Alliance, both in Lafayette.
Patients were sent a letter dated July 12 informing them of the closure.
“In order to maintain our mission for the long term, we have had to restructure the services we provide,” the letter stated. “As part of this restructuring we have found it necessary to begin the steps to close the Oncology Clinic in Frankfort. Although difficult, we have made this decision to assure the sustainability and vitality of our overall mission in our community.”
In late May St. Vincent Health had announced system-wide “workforce restructuring” affecting all 22 hospitals in the system and that changes would be completed by the end of June.
Cutbacks at St. Vincent Frankfort included closing the Stress Center, and the elimination of 10 jobs. Before the cutbacks, the hospital had the equivalent of 170 full-time employees.
Copyright © 2024 The Frankfort Times