With a blessing today by Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, the new six-story patient tower at the Jewish Hospital in Kenwood will be open for business.
The celebration marks the completion of the final patient-care piece of a $90 million renovation and expansion. It also begins the final days for patient care at the Jewish Hospital in Avondale - the nation's oldest Jewish hospital.
''We think there is more than sufficient capacity among the other Pill Hill hospitals to serve the patients who live in that area,'' said Warren Falberg, senior executive officer of the Jewish Hospital.
At 7 a.m. Wednesday, the emergency department at Jewish Avondale will close. Area life squads have been advised to take patients to nearby hospitals.
Also this week, the hospital's blue ram's horn logo will come down. And small new signs will go up, to direct would-be patients to other hospitals.
By 7 a.m. Saturday, about 70 patients will be moved to Jewish Kenwood or other hospitals. A closing ceremony will be held Sunday. The move to Kenwood marks the end of hospital care at the Avondale site, which traces its history to 1888. But many of the buildings will not be shuttered.
About 1,200 people will continue working at the Avondale campus: about half for the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati's core laboratory services; the rest for other administrative functions. The transfer will not require layoffs, officials said. About 1,000 employees switched to Kenwood. Another 350 were expected to get jobs elsewhere in the Health Alliance. About 50 took early retirement.
After the closing, three small patient services will continue temporarily in Avondale. Adolescent psychology will move by Dec. 1 to Children's Hospital Medical Center. Chemical dependency care will move to Christ Hospital in March. And a cholesterol center will be moved at an undetermined date.
