Chester County’s only hospital no longer admitting patients

CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Hospitals in the center of the fight against COVID-19 are struggling, officials said. They’ve been asked by multiple states to limit the number of nonemergency patients, elective surgeries and outpatient procedures they perform to limit exposure to the virus.

That has created tremendous financial pressure on hospitals, officials said.

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Effective Tuesday at 5 p.m., the 82-bed MUSC Health Chester is not admitting any patients and there are dozens of layoffs.

In March of 2019, the MUSC hospital system bought Springs Hospital in Lancaster and Chester Regional Medical Center. No one expected the medical landscape would suddenly face a pandemic.

It was announced Tuesday that the Chester and Lancaster hospitals would see 60 of the system's proposed 900 layoffs. Several nurses who wished to remain anonymous told Channel 9 they were informed during their shifts Monday night that it was their last day on the job.

Brett Lineberger, the director of Chester County EMS, said he had no idea MUSC Health Chester was shutting down some key services. He found out when emergency services personnel from York County called him and asked if they’d likely be taking some patients.

"We don't know how bad this is gonna get,” Lineberger said. “So, for the local hospital to all of a sudden stop taking patients, it's horrible."

The hospital said only outpatient surgery and emergency room services are still open. However, if someone needs to be admitted, they'll be transferred out of county to another hospital.

The MUSC Health System said surgeries are down by 75% and ambulatory encounters by 70%.

They've also implemented pay reductions, which include 20% for leaders, 15% for regular, salaried workers and hourly workers will have shifts reduced to 32 hours per week maximum.

Chester EMS carries about 60% of its patients to the only hospital in the county. Many more of those patients will now likely be driven to Lancaster, or Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill.

EMS officials said that could delay response times in smaller counties that have few ambulances.

"If we spend all of our time transporting to other hospitals and away, out of the county, then that's that much longer before that ambulance can be back here," Lineberger said.

Staffers at the hospital in Chester are now looking at applying for unemployment benefits. Their key cards will be deactivated, and they won’t be allowed inside buildings on the hospital campus. MUSC said decisions like these “are never easy to make,” and, “we will pray and hope for the best for our MUSC family and our patients.”

They expect the reductions to last through the month of June. MUSC said the Chester hospital is not closing.

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