Mercy announces second round of cuts
Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008
ROGERS - Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas announced Wednesday it would be undergoing a second round of staff reductions affecting 25 employees this week. This announcement came just six days after the jobs of 18 employees were terminated.
"This is part of a realignment plan for us," said Kyle Weaver, public relations spokesman for Mercy.
Mercy opened a 350, 000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on Interstate 540 in Rogers on March 16.
According to a release issued Wednesday, changes at Mercy include the reorganization of some services, reduction in employee hours and attrition. The Pea Ridge Medical office and the Mercy Family Medicine office at 811 S. E. 20 th St. in Bentonville will close in July or early August, with some staff relocating to other Mercy clinics.
"We are now getting back to normal day-to-day operations," Mercy CEO George Flynn said of the reorganization and employee cuts announced to date. Mercy would not disclose whether additional employee cuts or facility closings are planned for the coming weeks and months.
Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree said things in his community of 4, 600 will be anything but "normal"when its only medical facility closes.
"It's going to leave a big hole in the community for whatever period of time it takes to get someone else into the community," Crabtree said. "Business decisions have to be made, and we understand (Mercy's ) perspective on what happened. We're looking into other providers, or maybe there's a doctor we can get set up in town. We're trying to make the best of a bad situation."
Pea Ridge Medical has served the community for more than 30 years. When rumors began to circulate earlier this week about the possible closing of the clinic, area leaders met at the Pea Ridge City Hall to discuss the situation. Those attending were state Rep. Donna Hutchinson, state Sen.-elect Cecile Bledsoe, state Sen. Dave Bisbee, Arvest Bank Pea Ridge president John Lasater, Collier Drug owner Carl Collier and physician executive of Mercy Health Center of Northwest Arkansas Dr. Steven Goss.
According to the Mercy release, Dr. Phoebe Tobiano, family practice, and Dr. Rhonda Higgins, family physician, will move from the Pea Ridge office to Mercy Medicine in Rogers. Paul Price, nurse practitioner, will move from Pea Ridge to the Garrett-Goss Clinic in Centerton.
Dr. Eddy del Rio, family practice, currently at Mercy Family Medicine office in Bentonville, will move to the Bentonville Medical Associates office.
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