Sign posted on Cornwall ER door last week
CORNWALL – The Cornwall campus emergency department of St. Luke’s
Cornwall Hospital is no more. The hospital shut it down early Thursday
morning, now referring all people in need of emergency medical care to
the Newburgh campus ER, five miles to the north.
State Assemblyman James Skoufis (D, Woodbury) has been fighting
the closure and said Wednesday that he learned that two local providers
offered to pay rent and operate a 24/7 urgent care in the Cornwall ER
space. He said they were turned away by St. Luke’s officials, who
believed an urgent care facility would detract from patient volume at
their Newburgh ER.
The assemblyman said the hospital leaders “turned their backs and
betrayed” the residents of the Cornwall area.
“I will be working with providers to open, hopefully, a 24/7 urgent care,” Skoufis said. “Clearly it won’t be in that space, but St. Luke’s betrayed the communities that they serve by claiming that this urgent care would take away patients from their Newburgh ER and that they couldn’t move forward and allow that to happen.”
” St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital is committed to providing the
best quality care for everyone in the region. We recognize that closing
the Cornwall emergency department is a difficult change for some, however,
we are confident that the future for the Cornwall campus will continue
our commitment to comprehensive, quality care,” said spokeswoman
Katherine Dabroski. “We look forward to working with our elected
officials and everyone in the community to bring that vision to reality.”
