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Local NAACP members, church leaders stay encouraged in light of hospital closing

Local NAACP and church leaders said they are encouraged by “assurances” by Premier Health in the wake of the planned closing of Good Samaritan Hospital.

A community forum on the issue set for Feb. 10 at Mt. Zion Baptist Church is one reason for that encouragement, said Dayton NAACP President Derrick Foward.

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The community must “find a pathway forward,” said Corey Cunningham, founder and senior pastor of The Inspiration Church on Philadephia Drive.

Foward and Cunningham expressed those concerns this morning at a news conference three days after officials from Premier Health - the hospital’s parent company - announced the closing of the hospital that has been a northwest Dayton anchor for nearly a century.

Premier CEO Mary Boosalis said Wednesday Good Samaritan Hospital will close its doors by the end of the year and move 1,600 jobs out of the northeast Dayton neighborhood, where it been located on Philadelphia Drive since the late 1920s.

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Boosalis called the closing a “most difficult but necessary decision.” It was one that shocked many in the community and Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said “we are gravely concerned about an exit of that anchoring presence.”

Premier said its goal is to offer all employees other positions in the company. But that isn’t much solace for the neighborhood around the massive complex, which was first constructed in 1928 and added onto many times since.

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