St. Claire HealthCare furloughing 300 employees

Even healthcare workers aren't immune to job disruptions during the coronavirus crisis.

St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead says it is furloughing 300 people and cutting hours to others.

The impacted staff members are not directly involved in the hospital's COVID-19 operations.

The regional hospital says it was forced to make the decisions after watching a decline in visitors over the last ten days.

The hospital says it has also since postponed elective surgeries and other outpatient services while it continues to focus on urgent, long-term and COVID-19 care.

All furloughed employees will keep dental, vision, and medical insurance while not on the job. Other's service could be requested if more COVID-19 care is needed.

The hospital says no time-frame of when employees will return is known but leaders say they are closely monitoring when that may be.

“Our intent is for these furloughs to be temporary,” said Donald H. Lloyd, II, SCH President/CEO. “We hope to recall staff as quickly as possible, however, these are unprecedented times. We don’t know what the future holds or what recovery will look like.”