On Friday Kaleida Health announced it will affiliate with Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk and is close to a similar arrangement with TLC Health Network in Irving.

The organizations announced the arrangements Friday after the state awarded a $57 million grant to help with restructuring the smaller hospitals, both of which have struggled financially in recent years.

Brooks Memorial will terminate its affiliation agreement with UPMC Hamot in Erie, Pa., to partner with Kaleida Health, while TLC Health Network, the parent of Lake Shore Health Care Center, will make the affiliation official once it emerges from bankruptcy, officials said.

The Brooks board approved the decision to terminate its management and employee lease agreements with UPMC Hamot at a recent meeting. The Kaleida Health board approved the affiliations last month.

Lakeshore Hospital in Irving.

Brooks currently is a 65-bed facility, while Lake Shore Health Care is a 25-bed facility. Like other smaller hospitals in more rural areas, they have experienced difficulties as a result of declining and aging populations, problems recruiting physicians, and updating facilities and equipment.

In a statement, State Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean), said that saving Brooks and Lake Shore from closing has been a long and difficult endeavor, one that now has been won.

The grant came from the state’s Essential Healthcare Provider Support Program, which was created to help financially stressed healthcare organizations with debt retirement, capital projects and other reorganization initiatives.

Representatives at the two hospitals and Kaleida Health said they have yet to flesh out in detail how the affiliation will work, but plan to do so now that an agreement has been reached.

Lakeshore Hospital in Irving.

IRVING – Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving, Chautauqua County, will keep its doors open.

According to a report from Time Warner News, Chautauqua County legislator George Borrello, who represents that area, said Wednesday the hospital has withdrawn a closure plan from the state health department.

The Lake Erie Regional Heath System of New York’s Board of Directors voted to close the hospital on Jan. 31 unless a buyer could be found.

Borrello said the 400 employees at the hospital will not lose their jobs, as thought initially. He said that three factors contributed to the hospital’s turnaround, Borrello said, beginning with a FEMA grant to clean up damage from 2009 flooding. A second factor was an administration and management in place whose intention was to keep the hospital open, not to close it, and third was the community support of that hospital.

In October 2013, hospital officials made the announcement that Lake Shore would close in early 2014 due to financial difficulties. As a result, the community and officials derided the decision, saying the hospital is crucial to the health and economy of the north county.  A new owner of the facility is still being sought.

Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

ALBANY – Although she’s a member of the opposing political party, Senator Cathy Young (R,C – Olean), who represents Chautauqua County in Albany, says she’s pleased with the spending plan governor Andrew Cuomo laid out on Tuesday.

In a prepared statement following the governor’s budget presentation, Young said that Jobs and economic opportunities are paramount, and the Governor’s focus on making New York a more affordable place to live and work is right on target.  She added that “many of his proposals to make our state’s economy more competitive mirror the Senate’s initiatives. Manufacturing jobs especially drive the Upstate economy, and reducing manufacturing and small business taxes and eliminating utility taxes on employers and residential consumers are key.”

Young said she was also thrilled that Lake Shore Hospital in Irving, which is in grave danger of closing, got a specific mention from Health Department Commissioner Nirav Shah during the presentation, when he gave details about some health initiatives included in the Governor’s budget proposal.

Lake Shore Health Center

IRVING – A north county hospital that has been experiencing financial problems the past year has filed for bankruptcy.

According to a published report, TLC Health Network filed for bankruptcy on Monday in the hopes that it would help to keep the doors open at Lake Shore Health Center.

The TLC board of directors announced in a press release that it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court as the next step toward restructuring operations. Chapter 11 would allow TLC to propose a reorganization plan that would enable it to address debt issues while seeking new sources of income and sustainability.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Lakeshore Hospital officials were going to close the facility in early 2014 due to financial difficulties. Officials believe that by filing for Chapter 11, they can get it out debt, which would then allow the hospital to remain open.

Lakeshore Hospital in Irving.

IRVING – Congressman Tom Reed is joining state officials in the effort to keep the doors open for Lake Shore Health Care Center, a north county hospital that is scheduled to close early next year.

In a statement on Friday, Reed said he is keeping up-to-date on the situation and he hopes that a solution can be found that ensures patients have access to the best possible care, as well preserve the more than 400 jobs that would be lost should the hospital close.

Also on Friday, Senator Cathy Young’s office released a letter that she sent to the state Health Department Commissioner, requesting that sate officials consider several factors before allowing the closing to continue. Those factors include a large senior population as well as severe weather during the winter season.

In October, Lake Shore officials made the surprising announcement that the hospital was operating at a $7 million deficit and would have to close its doors in early 2014.  The closure would force residents in the tri-county region to travel a much further distance – either to Dunkirk, Hamburg or Springville – to receive immediate hospital care.

YNN News is reporting that Chautauqua County Legislator George Borello has announced that a local buyer of the Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving will be coming forward soon.

Earlier this month, Lake Shore officials announced that the hospital would be closing down by the end of January due to financial instability and more than 450 employees were going to lose their jobs. Borello stated that the prospective buyers and the hospital have agreed on a price, although the purchasers don’t wish to identify themselves until all details are finalized. Discussions will continue this week.

Lakeshore Hospital in Irving.

IRVING – Chautauqua County Legislator George Borello (R-Irving) says he and state representatives are doing all they can to help keep Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving from closing its doors.  Earlier this month, hospital officials said that the facility would be closing in early 2014 due to severe financial issues. The announcement caught the entire community – including local and state officials – by surprise.

Earlier this week, Borello told WRFA that should the hospital be closed, it would be devastating for thousands of residents in northern Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties, as well as southern Erie County.

“This is actually a much larger impact than just the town of Hanover and Irving. That’s perhaps the misconception out there,” Borello said. “This is an impact on folks that live in Angola, in Gowanda, that live onn the Seneca Nation of Indians, into Sheridan. It’s a very wide area.”

Borello also said that a closed Lake Shore hospital could have life-or-death consequences for people who are involved in a health emergency or serious accident.

“Their closest option, with the closing of Lake Shore, will be in Springville. That’s a far distance. Or Dunkirk,” Borello explained. “The emergency services and the lives that are going to be at risk in the event of a heart attack, a stroke or some kind of catestrophic accident, are really the big impact of no longer having an emergency room at Lake Shore Hospital.”

Borello said that he is working the Senator Cathy Young and Assemblyman Andy Goodell on a fact finding mission to determine who Lake Shore got into such financial dire straights and why its board of directors did not notify any public officials.

Meanwhile there are reports that concerned citizens and hospital employees are now circulating a petition to save the Lake Shore Health Care Center.  It urges the Lake Erie Regional Health System to reconsider their plans to close the facility.

YNN News is reporting that the board of directors of Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving voted Tuesday to close the facility at the end of January. The Health Care Center is part of the Lake Erie Regional Health System of New York. According to the news report, the center is expected to lose $7 million this year. A total of 460 employees will lose their job.

In an effort to possibly reverse the closure, County Legislator George Borrello (R-Silver Creek) is asking both Senator Cathy Young and Assemblyman Andy Goodell to offer support in finding a solution to the financial crisis.