LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — After nearly six months of no local access to a hospital, the Lockport community is celebrating the grand opening of the Catholic Health Lockport Memorial Hospital. The opening comes as the 115 year old Eastern Niagara Hospital abruptly shut down earlier this year.
The 60,000 square foot facility will offer emergency, medical inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic services along with primary and specialty care.
The specialty care will include cardiology, orthopedics, imaging, neurology and other specialties. As of right now, ER, inpatient unit and diagnostic services will begin seeing patients immediately.
Many employees from Eastern Niagara are joining the staff at Lockport Memorial. Three of those employees, Cassie Castro, Kesha Townsend and Sharon Dobson, are childhood friends from Lockport.
L to R: Kesha Townsend, Sharon Dobson, Cassie Castro
To be apart of this new chapter in the city is special for them.
"Born and raised in good ol Lockport," Townsend said. "You looking for that community feel you got three girls who have known each other their entire life."
"We’re familiar with the community because we’re all apart of it," Dobson said. "Of course I'm going to miss [Eastern Niagara], but we’re going to have the same exact morale so I'm excited to get that started."
"We definitely needed this neighborhood hospital," Castro said. "[Catholic Health] is with the year of 2025."
The new hospital not only offers relief to residents, it also takes weight off of first responders and EMT services.
With very limited personnel at the South Lockport Fire Company, having no hospital nearby was a strain on the volunteers as they endured 20-plus minute drives to nearby hospitals.
"It’s a lot of added stress. If there’s no commercial agencies available, then we have to take the transport to the most appropriate facilities a lot of times would be in Buffalo, Williamsville, Lewiston," said Chris McClune, Fire Chief of South Lockport Fire Company. "it does take us away from our families and from our day to day activities."
This video shows you the distances from the South Lockport Fire Company's stations to the cities and hospitals that Chief McClune mentioned:
The extended distance from Lockport was also a disservice to patients according to Chief McClune.
"A lot of times, they don’t have their own transportation," McClune said. "They don’t have the means to return back home as easily as it would be you know here in our own community."
On all fronts, this new hospital is a positive addition to the Lockport community. Lockport resident Lisa Swanson Gellerson reiterated the points that the nurses and McClune made.
"Without having to drive 20-30 minutes like I said is a big blessing." Swanson-Gellerson said. "It’s a huge sigh of relief for the community. We needed this."
