“We’re out here to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They closed this hospital Jan. 17, 2018, and Dr. King says that inadequate health care is injustice, is inequality, and is inhumane,” said Rev. Bishop Richard Cox, president of the Clergy Community Coalition.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Premier Health recently opened its Northwest Health and Wellness Campus within the new Premier Health YMCA at the old Good Samaritan site. The roughly 50,000-square-foot facility is owned by the YMCA of Greater Dayton, but Premier Health received naming rights.
The new facility cost more than $18 million to build. The YMCA of Greater Dayton secured the financing for the project, which included about $16 million in tax credits, along with public and private funding. Premier Health made a $15 million commitment over a 10-year period in support of future Phoenix Next-approved activities, which will be matched by $15 million from the city of Dayton through traditional public fund sources, according to Phoenix Next.
Premier Health still owns land where the old hospital’s parking garage stands and is undecided about its future use.
The closing of the hospital displaced employees, Cox said. The previous hospital had approximately 1,600 employees when it closed five years ago, and the hospital system said they were all offered positions at other Premier Health locations. Most accepted those new positions at different locations, Premier Health previously told the Dayton Daily News.
The new facility reflects the input of hundreds of local residents through community meetings and surveys, Premier Health said, which were part of a collaborative process led by Phoenix Next, the community board that is providing guidance on where the project goes next.
“Three hardhat tours in November and December drew 900 people and an enthusiastic response to the array of health care and other services offered at the site,” Premier Health said in an organizational statement on Wednesday.
Residents continue to ask why Premier Health or other health systems in the region chose not to build an emergency department in the northwest neighborhood like Premier’s more recent emergency center in Beavercreek.
“We’re in a health care desert,” Cox said.
Premier Health’s Miami Valley Hospital is about four miles from the previous Good Samaritan Hospital, Miami Valley Hospital North Campus is about five miles away, and Kettering Health Dayton, formerly known as Grandview, is about two miles from the neighborhood.
Premier Health will continue to monitor local health care needs and adjust services as necessary, the health system said.
“Premier Health is committed to caring for Northwest Dayton and neighboring communities,” Premier Health said. “The health care services that opened this month at the Northwest Health and Wellness Campus, as well as the services offered by the YMCA of Greater Dayton and other partners, reflect that commitment.”
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
“This is doing nothing for us,” said Ivy Young, one of the protesters out on Wednesday. There are no emergency health or birthing centers on that side of town, he said.
While hospitals in the area are nonprofits, some of the protesters said a focus on revenue is impeding care.
Doctors are being measured on how many patients they can see and how fast they can see them, said Morris Brown, a retired family doctor. Brown worked at Good Samaritan Hospital in the late 1970s and early 1980s before operating his own practice in downtown for 35 years.
“You’re not measured on your quality. You’re measured on your quantity,” Brown said.
In Premier Health’s latest bond report, the health system is still operating at a loss. For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2023, Premier Health was operating at a loss of $26.2 million, or an operating margin at a loss of 4.6% of total revenue.
This is still better than the Premier Health’s operating margin for the same period of 2022, which operated at a loss of $51.8 million, or an operating margin at a loss of 10.0% of total revenue, the health system’s report says. The change from 2022 to 2023 was due to higher volumes and changes in procedure mix, such as increased surgeries.
Premier Health is one of the region’s largest health systems, maintaining five hospitals, including Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville and Miami Valley Hospital North in Englewood; Atrium Medical Center in Middletown; and Upper Valley Medical Center in Miami County. In addition, Premier Health provides a care at its seven emergency departments, eight urgent care locations, and more than 130 outpatient locations.
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