Mid Hudson Times Jan. 27 2016 | Page 3

3 Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, January 27, 2016 St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital joins Montefiore By SHANTAL RILEY [email protected] St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital and Montefiore Health System have made it official. The hospital has merged with Montefiore after receiving formal approval from the state and the Federal Trade Commission earlier this month. “Our neighbors will continue to receive the same great care from the same dedicated doctors, nurses and staff, only with greater access to specialty care…” said Joan Cusack-McGuirk, St. Luke’s interim president and CEO. Montefiore Health System operates the Montefiore Hospital and the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, as well as several medical facilities in the Bronx and Westchester County. “There is a real synergy between our organizations,” St. Luke’s spokeswoman Katherine Dabroski said last week. “If there is a gap in care, Montefiore will help bring the experts to (St. Luke’s) and if that is not possible, we will have a relationship within that network of care. Montefiore is not looking to remove the care out of the community, it is quite the opposite.” Dabroski said no job losses would result from the merger. The hospital announced the creation of a “passive parent relationship” with Montefiore in October. St. Luke’s had been searching for a “strategic partner” to enhance services and “prepare the organization for the St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital has become part of the Montefiore Health System. anticipated changes in health care delivery” since early 2014, according to a hospital statement in October. “We are confident that by becoming part of Montefiore Health System, we will be able to serve our community in City fire chief charged Continued from page 1 Mike Vatter has resigned from his position as chief,” he said. Ciaravino said he had met with the fire and building departments to discuss moving forward and vowed to turn the “crisis” into an “opportunity” to improve services. “We want you to know you’re in good hands,” he told residents. “You should feel as safe as you did before.” Ahlers said the fire department was coping with the loss of its chief on Tuesday. “We work well under pressure,” he said. “It’s part of the job.” Ahlers added, he doesn’t want Vatter’s case “to reflect on the entire fire department.” “This is not the City of Newburgh Fire Department,” said Ahlers. “We are willing to step up and do our job to keep the city safe and move the fire department forward.” Ahlers, who has worked at the fire department since 1999, said he would apply for the position of fire chief once the civil service exam was available for the job. Among other recent projects, Vatter had been working on getting state funding for code enforcement and completing inspections of vacant properties. Vatter and staff had stepped up inspections of rental properties following the deaths of three people due to carbon monoxide-poisoning in a building on Lander Street last year. At a Distressed Property Task Force meeting in December, Vatter reported that staff had just completed inspections of [وH