Even with a history of community support, River Hospital says that it would go beyond what is possibly feasible to keep the River Hospital Nursing Unit open.

CEO Administrator of River Hospital Ben Moore III said that if the nursing facility at the hospital was not shut down, it would endanger the hospital's operation as a whole.

"The unit has always been running a deficit, has been since 2003 when we opened, we've been able to carry that deficit.  The board was interested in finding ways where we could keep going with the nursing unit.  Unfortunately, the past year, the rates have been such that the deficit has grown." 

As a small hospital that caters to the river community at large, Moore says that reserve funding is not an option and the small surplus that the rest of the hospital was generating could no longer keep the unit afloat.

The Medicaid rate is especially hard on the River Hospital financial situation, but whether state cuts were emminent or not, the nursing unit was in danger.

"About 93 percent of those patients (in the unit) are on the Medicaid rate.  The whole nursing home situation, small ones like ours, it is a factor across New York State."

"In general, you have to have a large number of beds to make these nursing homes profitable or break even."

40 jobs and 27 patients are being affected by the closing and Moore says that the hospital would be working with the employees to find open employment options.

When asked what the future of nursing homes is in the North Country, Moore says that a new facility and new concepts in nursing care needs to be researched and could work.

When it came down to the final decision, Moore says that no one was proud to say this was it.

"This is a terrible decision for the board, we wrestled with it for well over a year.  The board's first reaction to us was find a solution, we don't want to do this...every time we looked at something, it just wasn't going to work."