No offers from hospitals to open Harrisville clinic

Julie Abbass, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·4 min read

Jul. 19—HARRISVILLE — Although construction work on the former Harrisville Health Center building is nearing completion, no health systems or hospitals answered the town of Diana's second request for proposals this year to get it staffed and running again.

During the July 12 council meeting, town of Diana Supervisor Zachary J. Smith gave the council and about 10 people present the update.

To try to get a better understanding of why none of the hospitals or health systems had responded, Mr. Smith said he called all of the facilities that had seemed open to running the clinic.

In the name of transparency, Mr. Smith said he thought it was important to share what he was told in the public forum.

"I got a voice mail from Lewis County (Health System.) They had interest but they don't have a provider to come here. Star Lake (Clifton-Fine Hospital) had interest but due to some personnel issues, they didn't have time to put together the response to the RFP," Mr. Smith said. "Claxton (Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg) had layoff and financial problems that they're working on... St. Lawrence Health System and Carthage (Area Hospital) just said with the current changes they have going on, they have no interest in taking it over."

Former town supervisor David Parrow had lobbied Clifton-Fine Hospital in Star Lake to take over the clinic and, with the board, decided not to renew the lease agreement on the town-owned clinic building with Lewis County Health System in November, which had been providing a three-member team including a fully certified physician, a nurse and one administrative support person.

Clifton-Fine Hospital Chief Executive Officer Dierdre D. Sorrell, who gave a presentation to the Diana board in December about the hospital and how she envisioned the relationship between the clinic and Clifton-Fine if it should come to pass.

She could not be reached for comment about the change of course on taking over the Harrisville Health Center.

In a separate interview, Mr. Smith said he wants to speak "face to face" with Lewis County Health System Chief Executive Officer Gerald R. Cayer to discuss the possibility of a practitioner being recruited for Harrisville.

For the health system, however, when the town of Diana chose not to sign the lease which signalled the clinic's closure, not only did Dr. R. Brian Shambo — the medical provider who had been serving the community since 2019 — relocate with the staff to the Beaver River Health Center, but the health system also had to submit a "closure plan" to the state Department of Health so that they would "no longer be identified with the clinic," Mr. Cayer said in an interview on Wednesday evening.

If the health system was to return to the clinic, Mr. Cayer said they would have to start a new "certificate of need" process with the state which can take more than a year to complete. Combined with the fact that the health system is still experiencing staffing challenges, it is unlikely Lewis County Health would be able to return any time soon.

"From a physician recruiting point of view, we are laser focused on the (obstetrics and gynecological) practice so that we can 'unpause' maternity. We also have some retirements that will be coming up in family practice and that's our other area of primary focus."

He added that he would "never say never" about returning to the clinic despite "the ramifications of the previous leadership's decision to sever the relationship." It is all dependent on the health system's ability to continue to recruit new personnel.

Mr. Smith said he is also trying to make contact with a former doctor at the Beaver River Health Clinic, Dr. Thomas P. Birk, as suggested by some community members. Dr. Birk left that clinic last year when the COVID-19 vaccine mandate went into effect.

The town has repaired or replaced the windows, septic system, handicapped doors and removed all asbestos from the clinic building under advisement of the state Department of Health through their contractor, GYMO Engineering.

Only interior doors still delayed because of the supply chain, the final calibration of the HVAC system and extending a sidewalk from the nearby housing complex Harris Courts to the clinic remain to be completed.