Over the next month, CHI Mercy Health and Centennial Medical Group in Lordsburg will eliminate 18 jobs, mostly in leadership support departments, in what’s being called a reorganization.
In a statement to KLCC, Mercy Health CEO and managing director Russell Woolley cited financial pressures and workforce challenges in the health system as reasons for the “difficult but necessary” decision to cut 18 positions.
The hospital and medical group employs about 1,300 people. The job cuts follow similar actions taken at Mercy Health last spring, when 50 full-time employees were laid off.
Hospital leadership is encouraging displaced employees to apply for other jobs, both within the organization and outside.
Mercy has operated as a hospital in Lordsburg for 115 years.
In a statement, Woolley said management “regularly evaluates operational performance and makes adjustments to ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization.”
As such, the restructuring will include streamlining schedules, natural attrition of employees, eliminating agencies and reducing contract services, he added. It’s unclear how many other positions are affected by these adjustments.
Woolley said the focus of the restructuring is to increase financial stability in order to “expand, not reduce, care.”
Currently, Mercy Health operates as a 174-bed medical center.