THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140283
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
First Hospital Corp. of Norfolk plans to integrate its mental health treatment centers and lay off 51 employees.
The company, which bought three mental health treatment centers last month, will consolidate its old and new holdings, and temporarily close one center for renovation.
Employees will learn this week who is being laid off, said Edward C. Irby, the company's chief operating officer. The move will affect workers at all local facilities, not just those recently acquired, Irby said. Layoffs will include administrative and treatment workers such as accountants and nurses.
The job losses are part of the company's efforts to streamline operations, Irby said. When First Hospital took on the new treatment centers, the company ended up with duplications of some jobs, company officials say. No offices will be closed.
First Hospital will need less staff once renovation begins on the newly purchased Tidewater Psychiatric Institute in Virginia Beach.
That facility will be converted into a hospital that emphasizes family-focused treatment for children and teenagers. Until the project is completed in mid-autumn, the new program for children and teens will be housed at Tidewater Psychiatric in Norfolk.
The 51 people who are laid off will get preferential consideration if they apply for one of 56 openings the company has locally. But they are not guaranteed another job.
First Hospital plans to hire more people when the renovated Virginia Beach center reopens, officials said.
The company provides mental health treatment and management of programs. Nationwide, it employs more than 4,500 people; about 1,750 of those are in South Hampton Roads.
In addition to Tidewater Psychiatric Institutes, the company also recently bought Serenity Lodge, a substance abuse treatment center in Chesapeake.
This isn't the first round of layoffs for Tidewater Psychiatric workers. Charter Medical Corp. of Georgia, which owned the facilities for several months before selling them to First Hospital, laid off about 18 people. Irby said that First Hospital had nothing to do with those layoffs.
Before Charter, the centers were owned by National Medical Enterprises, a California company charged with fraud. In April, National Medical agreed to settle federal charges of colossal insurance fraud at its psychiatric hospitals and set aside $375 million to cover costs.
KEYWORDS: FIRST HOSPITAL CORPORATION LAYOFFS by CNB