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Takeaways from the first Upstate-Crouse merger community forum

Officials from Upstate Medical University and Crouse Health presented on the proposed merger in North Syracuse Junior High School.
Isabel Flores
/
WAER News
Officials from Upstate Medical University and Crouse Health presented on the proposed merger in North Syracuse Junior High School.

Upstate Medical University plans to acquire Crouse Health, brining together two of the region's biggest players in healthcare. The hospitals are hosting public forums to share details of the plan address community questions.

The first was held in North Syracuse Monday evening. Here's what we learned:

  • Upstate and Crouse plan to keep all positions as they are, and they do not plan to cut any jobs.
    • In fact, Upstate has around 600 open nursing positions at the moment, and Crouse has slots to fill as well.
  • The hospitals plan to maintain and expand on the current services they offer after the merge.
  • 75% of Crouse employees are in the worker's union. The union plans to protect those employees seniority and status.
  • Employee benefits will change once the hospitals merge, but hospital officials said at the forum they hope to keep them as similar as possible.
  • Hospital officials said the plans for the acquisition have been in the works for a few years now, however all getting all regulatory approvals could still take months.
    • Officials will not be able to answer certain questions regarding the deal due to an ongoing regulatory review.

The next community forum on the Upstate-Crouse merger will be Thursday Aug. 18 at the Southwest Community Center in Syracuse. The session will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
This story has been updated to clarify the 600 open positions are for nursing, specifically.

Isabel Flores is a graduate student studying Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. School of Public Communications, expected to graduate in May of 2023. As a multimedia reporter, she helps to present as well as produce audio and digital content for WAER. In her free time, Isabel enjoys working out and listening to all genres of music.