HAMMOND, Ind. — Residents and Hammond’s mayor are upset after officials announced Thursday that the city’s only hospital is effectively closing.
Franciscan Health announced they are planning to end emergency room services and inpatient care at their Hammond location, located at 5454 Hohman Ave.
They will still have primary care, but it will effectively be just like any clinic in operation.
The hospital group claims the facility is averaging only two patients being admitted following emergency room services. They said that is not enough to keep the hospital at full-service.
Hammond resident Cassandra Thompson heard the news and is upset to lose it.
“My son’s daycare. He had hand foot and mouth — I wanted to make sure he’s ok. I picked him up, we went straight here,” Thompson said. “Now it’s closing.”
Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. is upset that Lake County’s largest city will be without an emergency room.
“A lot of the residents in the city don’t have private health insurance, certainly aren’t wealthy,” McDermott Jr. said. “As a result of this decision, their lives are going to be more in danger than people in other communities.”
Franciscan said it plans to spend more than $5 million to renovate the space on the Hammond campus for a clinic, dialysis center and women’s health center. The company said its goal is to maintain as many staff members as possible by placing them into other facilities.
