Claim: Hospital closings hit hard on the edge of the Rust Belt.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Lewistown, Pennsylvania
text: Lewistown as the rural focus of the ongoing heroin epidemic in the USA. The 2000s saw the loss of Scottys Fashions, Mann Edge Tool, Overhead Door shuttering its Sectional division, Ford New Holland shuttered its Belleville plant which also led to the closing of the Belleville Foundry, and the shrinking Lewistown Hospital was purchased by Geisinger Health, who further reduced services, requiring helicopter transfers for common ailments such as heart attacks. Two positives in the years since Agnes was the 2011 purchase of Standard Steel by the Japanese company Sumitomo Industries, which effectively saved the jobs of 500 union laborers

title: U.S. Steel
text: work stoppage, USX announced that four USX plants would remain closed permanently, eliminating about 3,500 union jobs. The closure of many plants created the term "rust belt" for a region of idle and derelict factories. Corporate raider Carl Icahn launched a hostile takeover of the steel giant in late 1986 in the midst of the work stoppage. He conducted separate negotiations with the union and with management and proceeded to have proxy battles with shareholders and management. But he abandoned all efforts to buy out the company on January 8, 1987, a few weeks before union employees returned to work.

title: Florida Hospital Wauchula
text: a TV movie, "Switched at Birth", that had aired the previous year. According to Schwartz-Nobel, Hardee Memorial was forced into bankruptcy due to the legal battle concerning the baby swap. Hardee Memorial closed in July 1992. Soon after Florida Hospital Heartland Division, which ran hospitals in Sebring, Florida, and Lake Placid, Florida, obtained the closed hospital and has been running it ever since. Florida Hospital expanded services at Wauchula soon after reopening the hospital. The emergency and outpatient departments opened in 1993. The emergency department expanded from seven to fourteen beds in 2009 and upgraded its equipment. Seriously ill patients

title: St. John Riverview Hospital
text: the Detroit Medical Center. The St. John Riverview Hospital was unprofitable for the hospital system. The healthcare system planned to close the hospital by the end of June 2007. Clergy and medical leaders and the union representing the workers protested the proposed closure, arguing that the closure would cause hundreds of people to lose their jobs and hinder healthcare access for thousands of area residents. In May 2007 officials from the hospital area union leaders, and area religious leaders were scheduled to meet officials from the Detroit City Council to discuss what would happen if the hospital closed. That year,

title: Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry
text: rediscover Byberry after it closed. The buildings were not demolished at first because of asbestos poisoning concerns. Looters broke in several weeks after the closing and began to steal everything of value, especially copper piping and wiring. After the looters had removed everything of value, vandals trespassed on the grounds, smashed windows, and started fires. Urban explorers wandered the halls and the extensive underground network that connected each building though tunnel corridors. By 2000 Byberry saw an explosion of people visiting the abandoned hospital. The internet offered extremely exaggerated stories and legends, as well tips on gaining access to the

title: Michael Reese Hospital
text: end of 2008. The 48-acre campus was then vacated by January 2009 and calls to the main number were greeted by: "We're sorry. All circuits are busy now. Please try your call again later." From 2007 to its closing, Michael Reese had been owned by Envision Hospital Corporation of Scottsdale, Arizona. The hospital officially closed August 31, 2009. At one time, the hospital had a large health plan which included 300,000 patients; at the time of the hospital's closure the health plan was terminated and it only had 2,900 clients. The streets through the campus were closed and demolition began

title: Pascack Valley Hospital
text: a memorandum of understanding with PVH to acquire the hospital, with plans to keep the facility operating as a full acute-care hospital. Ultimately, Pascack's agreement with HUMC fell through, and on September 24, 2007, the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with plans to liquidate the hospital's assets. In anticipation of closure, PVH began to limit its admissions. On November 21, the facility stopped providing medical care, and the administrative remaining departments closed shortly thereafter. Days before the hospital closed in November 2007, the certificate of need for the hospital's mobile intensive care unit (which had provided advanced life support

title: Traverse City State Hospital
text: Munson hospital, the Pavilions, Garfield Township and (later) T.M.G. However, changes in the law and mental health care philosophies brought on the decline of the institution. The farm on the grounds closed in the 1950s, with most of its buildings demolished in the mid-1970s. In 1963, the main 1885 center wing of Building 50 was destroyed because it was deemed a fire hazard and a new modern building was put up in its place. Use of the hospital slowly declined, and it was closed in 1989, with a loss of over 200 jobs to the local economy. Over the next

title: Cooper Green Mercy Hospital
text: extensive renovations and modernization of systems. Brasfield & Gorrie was general contractor for the project. In May 2009, Birmingham mayor Larry Langford suggested that the city of Birmingham take over operation of the hospital, predicting that the county would try to shut it down amid cost-cutting measures in the wake of a massive County debt crisis. Indeed, Jefferson County, Alabama, did file for voluntary relief under Chapter 9 of the United States Bankruptcy Code on November 9, 2011. His concerns proved unfounded, however. While the County Commission did vote 3 to 2 on August 28, 2012, to close the inpatient

title: Homer G. Phillips Hospital
text: responded with protests, and more than a hundred police officers were required to control the crowd and to escort remaining patients out. William Lacy Clay, Sr. led opposition to the closure, and many in the community charged that the closure was racially motivated. Picketing and protests outside the hospital continued for more than a year after the closure, and a community group called Campaign for Human Dignity was formed to continue the movement. Mayor James F. Conway commissioned a task force to study the issue of the hospital, but nothing resulted of the plan. The protests were ultimately unsuccessful in

title: Barnert Hospital
text: more modern structure. The hospital was a full-service facility offering perinatal care, family care services and an outpatient infusion unit treating high risk pregnancies and hematology-oncology patients. Its operations were drastically scaled back in its last years of operation due to serious financial difficulties. The hospital sought Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in August, 2007. The hospital initially intended to close on September 28, 2007 due to a lack of funds. However soon after the announcement both the State and Federal governments appropriated $3.5 million to keep the hospital open while a buyer was sought. Several groups attempted unsuccessfully to raise

title: Oakland Medical Center
text: the closure of its ER for ambulance patients, Oakland Medical Center had to bear the brunt of the extra patients. In fact, the entire health organization could have lost millions in funding if it did not immediately remediate the chronic understaffing of critical care positions at this hospital. In 2011 the hospital was probed in a "scathing" report that described the hospital as having systemic deficiencies that put its patrons in "immediate jeopardy" in its home health division for terminally ill patients. Kaiser was also accused of scapegoating nurses for the problems as a diversion of responsibility. It opened this

title: Broadway Avenue Historic District (Cleveland, Ohio)
text: for $12 million in May 2000. But losses at the hospital continued, and it finally closed for good on December 19, 2003. The city of Cleveland purchased the hospital campus Improvements in the area led to a real estate bubble. Between 2005 and 2006, 68 percent of all loans made in the Slavic Village area were predatory. The widespread predatory lending and sweeping extent of foreclosures in Slavic Village led the mass media to declare the area the "epicenter of the Great Recession". Spurred by the financial crisis, Slavic Village lost 30 percent of its population over the next decade.

title: UPMC Braddock
text: the closing, including a "Zombie" protest march to UPMC's corporate headquarters. Ultimately, the attempt to save the hospital was unsuccessful. At the time of the closure, UPMC indicated that 75% percent of UPMC Braddock's 600 employees had transferred to other UPMC jobs. Various proposals have been floated for the use of the hospital's building, including demolition and redevelopment that would be partially financed by UPMC. Following the closing, UPMC expanded operating hours of its Braddock Family Health Center, moved the Braddock Dental Center and the Family Care Connection of Children's Hospital to a new facility on Braddock Avenue, instituted a

title: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
text: those surveyed said ACA hadn't influenced their planning or expectations for 2014, and 85 percent said the law wouldn't prompt a change in their hiring practices. Some 21 percent of 64 businesses surveyed said that the act would have a harmful effect and 5 percent said it would be beneficial. From the start of 2010 to November 2014, 43 hospitals in rural areas closed. Critics claimed that the new law caused these hospitals to close. Many of these rural hospitals were built using funds from the 1946 Hill–Burton Act, to increase access to medical care in rural areas. Some of

title: Shriners Hospitals for Children
text: Children. The Shriners had considered closing facilities in Shreveport, Louisiana; Greenville, South Carolina; Erie, Pennsylvania; Spokane, Washington; Springfield, Massachusetts and Galveston, Texas, eliminating a total of 225 beds. However, in July 2009, the Shriners National Convention voted overwhelming against closing any hospitals and to repair and reopen the Galveston facility. In 2009, despite an endowment that declined from $8 billion to $5 billion in less than a year because of the poor economy, Douglas Maxwell, the hospitals' CEO said he and other Shriners are confident the hospital system will be able to remain solvent in the long term. Maxwell stated

title: Mansfield, Ohio
text: manufacturing plants were either bought-out, relocated or closed, leaving only the AK Steel plant in Mansfield as the last remaining heavy industry employers. The AK Steel Mansfield Works production facility, formerly Armco Steel, was the location of a violent 3-year United Steelworkers Union lock-out and strike from 1999 to 2002. On June 1, 2009, General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced that its Ontario stamping plant (Mansfield-Ontario Metal Center) would close in June 2010. With the loss of the jobs, locally owned businesses in downtown Mansfield closed, as did much of the retail built in the 1960s

title: Danvers State Hospital
text: population started to decrease. Massive budget cuts in the 1960s played a major role in the progressive closing of Danvers State hospital. The hospital began closing wards and facilities as early as 1969. By 1985, the majority of the original hospital wards were closed or abandoned. The Administration Block, in the original Kirkbride, building closed in 1989. Patients were moved to the Bonner Medical Building across the campus. The entire campus was closed on June 24, 1992 and all patients were either transferred to the community or to other facilities. In December 2005, the property was sold to AvalonBay Communities,

title: Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry
text: the state inspection. On December 7, 1987, a press conference was held to announce the closure of the Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry. The teams most recently performing investigations described the conditions as "atrocious" and "irreversible." Though originally supposed to close the following year, patient issues delayed the process. Most importantly, two released patients were found dead in the Delaware River in two successive days after their release. The hospital officially closed in June 1990, with the remaining patients and staff having been transferred to Norristown State Hospital or local community centers. It did not take long for people to

title: Lindy Boggs Medical Center
text: major evacuation effort took place and, thanks to the initiative and hard work of both the hospital staff and the rescue workers, mostly everyone was able to be rescued. Since Hurricane Katrina forced the facility to close, Mid-City New Orleans has been without vital health care services, including an emergency department. After the storm, Tenet Healthcare sold the facility to Georgia-based Victory Real Estate Investments. The same real estate group also purchased neighboring properties with plans for a retail development along Bienville Street but the project never moved forward. In 2010, the entire Lindy Boggs complex of buildings and a