Citing financial constraints, the Board of Directors of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers voted to authorize the closure of the hospital’s Manhattan inpatient services. The hospital has been a medical mainstay in Greenwich Village for more than 160 years. The decision comes after months of financial struggle as the 727-bed hospital tried to devise a rescue plan to address mounting debt.

The closure is a huge blow to health care access for the area, but also marks a fundamental change to an historic institution, the last Catholic general hospital in New York City.  St. Vincent’s was founded in 1849 to treat victims of a cholera epidemic of the mid-1800s; by the 1980s, St. Vincent’s stood at the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, becoming a leader in treatment and management of the disease. In 2001, the hospital played an important role in responding to the September 11th terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan.

In a statement, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East said of the decision to close St. Vincent’s inpatient services, “while we regret that acute care services will no longer be provided, we are optimistic that St. Vincent’s will continue to provide most vital services through the creation of an urgent care facility that can meet virtually all the medical needs of the community including emergency services, ambulatory surgery, diagnostics, imaging and both specialty and primary care clinical services.”

For the time being, the hospital’s outpatient health center clinics will continue to operate as usual.  Elective surgeries are anticipated to cease after April 14, 2010.  Members of 1199 SEIU held a rally at the hospital in early April to call attention to the potential impact of additional cuts in the health care sector.  The closing of St. Vincent’s inpatient services highlights the continuing struggles faced by nonprofit and independent hospitals in New York City after seven rounds of healthcare cuts over the past three years.