By Dc. Deacon Tom Picciano,
Contributing Writer
Binghamton — Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital in Binghamton is expected to have new ownership early next year. Pending state and federal
approvals, the new owner of the hospital, as well as all the other Lourdes services, facilities, providers and associates, will be the Guthrie Clinic based in Sayre, Pa.
The announcement was made on June 8 by Lourdes President and CEO Kathy Connerton and Guthrie President and CEO Dr. Edmund Sabanegh. The media and a group of Lourdes staff were in attendance.
“Lourdes has a long history of high-performance, patient centeredness.” Sabanegh said, noting that Guthrie has been looking for partners as they began a strategic effort last year.
“Guthrie and Lourdes are very similar like-minded organizations that are committed to our patients, that are committed to being the very best we can for our communities, committed to access and committed to keeping care local.” he said.
“That’s critically important for our communities. They expect that.” he added.
Our Lady of Lourdes has been in operation for nearly 100 years. It was founded in 1925 by the Daughters of Charity.
“They answered the call of what the community needed,” Connerton told those gathered, “and today we’re being called again to answer the call and take it to a new piece of our journey.”
“It was very important to us given our history with the Daughters that we found a partner who would be mission driven and culturally aligned with what we believe in, and what we see as being important in this community.” she said.
“They have the same values and are mission driven as we are and they have a lifelong history just like us, taking care of people in their community,” Connerton added.
In addition to 24/7 emergency and acute care, Lourdes provides ambulatory care, a cancer center, a wellness center, as well as a network of primary care providers in the region.
In 1999, Lourdes became a part of Ascension Health when the Daughters of Charity National Health System and the Sisters of St. Joseph Health System formed that Catholic health care system. The St. Louis, Mo.–based Ascension includes 2,600 sites in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
The Guthrie Clinic was established in 1910. It is a nonprofit “multispecialty health system that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education.” They have 6,500 caregivers with more than 700 physicians and advanced practice providers. Guthrie has five hospitals and a network of outpatient offices in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York.
