Article: Mesa General Closure......

Mesa General staff looking elsewhere as hospital closes
Art Thomason
Apr. 15, 2008 09:39 AM
The Arizona Republic

With the healthcare job market still fit, the name of a familiar Mesa institution is on a surge of new résumés under review by medical service providers in the Southeast Valley.

Employees of Mesa General Hospital wasted no time applying for jobs at other medical centers after the announcement March 25 that it will close June 1.

But Audrianne Schneider, a Mesa General spokeswoman, said Friday the hospital's Tennessee-based owner, Iasis Healthcare, assures that the hospital is sufficiently staffed to serve its patients until the doors are locked.

"We're committed to the same level of care that our patients have come to expect and deserve until June 1," she said. "From the very beginning we said would do our best to retrain as many members of our (hospital) family as we could. We have had several internal job fairs, our employees have shown a great interest in transferring to another Iasis facility and every effort is being made to keep as many employees as possible."

"People are not bailing out," she added. "There are staff that will be transferring to another facility who will stay with us through May 31."

Applications from Mesa General employees are piling up on desks at Banner Health, the state's largest healthcare provider.

"We received between 15 and 20 applications since the announcement that Mesa General was closing," said Rosanna Bailey, recruitment program manager for the Banner east Mesa campus that includes Banner Baywood Medical Center and Banner Heart Hospital. "We've always gotten applicants from them, but not that many in a short amount of time."

Banner Baywood spokeswoman Coiya Lynn said job offers were extended to several applicants but she didn't know when they would start work.

Chandler Regional Medical Center has hired some of the 20 Mesa General nurses who applied for jobs, said the center's marketing and public relations manager, Julie Graham.

Mesa leaders continue to express disappointment that the hospital is closing and residents in neighborhoods near Mesa and University drives say they are concerned that the hospital will become another vacant building in west Mesa.

"I still am wondering why they are closing it," said Jessica Egnew, who lives about a block north of the hospital. "We are worried about what they are going to do with it and we sure don't want it abandoned. And we don't want whatever they put in there to bring down the neighborhood."

Mesa General's closing comes as new medical centers open in the Southeast Valley, including the 178-bed Mountain View Medical Center owned by Iasis Healthcare.

The 43-year-old hospital's landlord, Sierra Land Group Inc., has not announced any plans for the property.

"We want to make sure the land is put to good use," said Patricia Martineau, who lives in a neighborhood east of the hospital. "Every time something is closed down there is always concern about the downturn of the area."

Mesa developer and real estate investor Michael Pollack said continuing to use the hospital for medical services would be the most prudent choice at this time. Its worst use, he said, is office space.

"The highest and best use of that property is medical," he said. "We already have a huge supply of office space in this area and that last thing we need is a whole lot of additional space added to the market."