Lockport, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was announced Friday that the Eastern Niagara Hospital will be closing their doors on June 17th, creating a large gap in emergency services for Niagara County residents.
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Now, the nearest hospitals are Mount St. Mary's in Lewiston or Millard Fillmore Suburban, which are at least 25-35 minutes away for some Niagara County residents.
"It leaves this community very vulnerable to emergency room services and it's unacceptable," said Paul Beakman, Lockport Common Council President.
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"Where are we going to send our residents in a time of emergency?" Beakman asks. "I'm a retired policeman. I've been on thousands of rescue calls with our fire department and literally minutes and seconds count. What was now a three three minute trip to the emergency room in Lockport now is a half hour ride. This could mean the difference between life and death."
The hospital was supposed to be open until Catholic Health built a new hospital for the city. Ground broke on that project in November of 2021.
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"We were hearing September," said Beakman on the potential opening date for the new hospital. "There's no way that this hospital is going to be up and ready in six months.
They are not very far along in the construction. You can see they're still working on the roof and working to secure the exterior. I'm guessing they're a year out and that's unacceptable to leave the citizens of Lockport and the surrounding Eastern Niagara County without an emergency room."
Beakman said he would like to see the hospital remain open while Catholic Health finishes the construction of a new hospital.
"Eastern Niagara intends to continue providing health care services at both locations until June 17," hospital officials said in a statement. Operators of the hospital on East Avenue in Lockport also operate the Ambulatory Center on South Transit Road which will also close June 17th but reopen immediately under Catholic Health Management.
"We will fight really hard to try to keep the doors open for Eastern Niagara so that there is no health health coverage gap in the city of Lockport," Beakman said.
Catholic Health released a statement following the hospital's statement:
