Melissa Bailey Photo
On a rainy Wednesday, 30 staff members showed up to the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center to find out it was their last day at work.
Effective Wednesday, the health provider laid off 30 workers across its 16 health clinics in New Haven and the surrounding area, according to Michael Taylor, the organization’s chief operating officer. The laid-off workers represent 5.7 percent of the 526-member workforce.
The majority of the workers were in administrative jobs, such as billing and medical records — “jobs that would be invisible to most” people visiting the clinic, Taylor said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. Some others were non-clinical support staff with jobs akin to what’s known as a medical assistant. Those staffers were there to aid health providers, whose numbers have been shrinking amid a national shortage, Taylor said. None of the laid-off workers has a union, according to Taylor.
Hill Health runs 16 community health centers in New Haven, one in West Haven, one in Ansonia/Derby and at school-based sites. It is headquartered at 400 Columbus Ave. in the Hill neighborhood.
News of the layoffs was revealed in an email sent Wednesday by Hill Health’s CEO Jamesina Henderson.
“While unpleasant, these changes were necessary and will not impact our long-standing tradition of delivering quality patient care,” Henderson wrote. “There are no plans for additional separations.”
Henderson, who took over as CEO in July 2009, was away at a conference this week. In her absence, Taylor personally delivered the bad news to the workers. He said he didn’t sleep the night before.
“This was not an easy day for us,” Taylor (pictured) said in his office. Remaining staff at Hill Health “took it very hard.”
Taylor said the decision to make layoffs came after “looking at the financial health of the organization.” Hill Health needs to “make sure we remain vital and financially strong for people who come through our doors.”
Hill Health is in its 43rd year of operation. “We are committed to continued service to the community well beyond our 44th year and to ensuring access to quality care for the people of greater New Haven,” the organization wrote in a statement.
The company continues to grow in other areas, and is “actively seeking” to hire doctors and nurse practitioners, according to the statement.
Taylor said the goal moving is to “be as financially healthy as we can so we can serve even more people.”