Mercyhealth to keep 500 employees at Rockton Ave. clinic despite hospital sale

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Mercyhealth plans to keep 500 people employed at its Rockton Avenue clinic despite the pending sale of the former Rockford Memorial Hospital.

“Mercyhealth is pleased to announce that Pastor Melvin Brown and his wife, Sheila Brown, have signed a purchase agreement and are now closing on the former hospital facility on the Rockton Avenue Campus. The Browns have spent more than 30 years ministering and providing social support for members of the Rockford community. Their dedication to serving others, coupled with their vision for the building, will have a positive impact on the community,” the healthcare organization announced Wednesday.

Brown serves as pastor at Kingdom Authority Church, 815 N Church Street.

“Mercyhealth will continue to have over 500 employees in our physician clinic at the Rockton Campus. This building will house a number of clinical and administrative services. Additionally, we will maintain our REACT hangar and EMS training center on a long-term basis,” Mercyhealth added.

Mercyhealth closed the Rockton Avenue campus in July, saying preliminary ideas for the facility included social services agencies or a nursing home.

The Wisconsin-based healthcare company eliminated inpatient services at the Rockton campus in 2020, relocating emergency room services to its new Javon Bea Mercyhealth Riverside hospital.

Mercyhealth said the move was necessary after decreased volume in its emergency departments, an increase in telemedicine, and lower surgery volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am confident the new owners have the best of intentions; however, I cannot imagine that hospital leadership has set them up for success. Simply maintaining the property will cost approximately $1.5 million each year. My greatest concern, which I voiced last week, is that any new owner will struggle to be successful without the resources, planning and capacity required to manage the scale and expense of such a massive property,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said of the sale.

“What frustrates me most is that Mercyhealth has now successfully carried out its plan to dispose of the property on North Rockton Avenue with little regard for the impact this will have on our community’s residents. For Mercyhealth, this is a bailout and a tax write-off,” he added.

In 2018, upon Bea’s announcement that the hospital was eliminating inpatient services, McNamara, along with Rep. Maurice West (D), Rep. Dave Vella (D), and Sen. Steve Stadelman (D) pushed back against Mercyhealth CEO Javon Bea’s claims of flooding concerns, saying Bea intended to close the Westside campus ever since the announcement of the new, multi-million dollar hospital on east Riverside, despite his repeated assurances to the contrary.

The Riverside hospital was named Mercyhealth Javon Bea Hospital – Riverside when it opened in 2018.