Guthrie Acquisition of Lourdes Hospital to Be Finalized Next Week

Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital in Binghamton will officially become part of The Guthrie Clinic in a few days.

The Sayre-based Guthrie last June announced it would acquire Lourdes and its related physician practices from Ascension, a national healthcare system with headquarters in St. Louis.

The formal signing of the paperwork to complete the transaction is expected to take place on Wednesday. A ceremony to mark the first day of business of the combined entity is scheduled for Thursday morning at Lourdes Hospital on Riverside Drive.

Plans for the event call for the unveiling of signage that will display the facility's new name: Guthrie Lourdes Hospital.

Lourdes and its affiliates will have about 3,000 employees at the time Guthrie assumes control. They'll join The Guthrie Clinic's existing workforce of about 6,500 people.

Lourdes Hospital was established in October 1925 at the former residence of Merritt Corbett on Riverside Drive on Binghamton's West Side. The old Corbett Mansion was torn down in 1954 for a hospital expansion project.

The Daughters of Charity founded Lourdes Hospital, which was acquired by Ascension Health more than two decades ago. The sisters with the Daughters of Charity departed the hospital in 2017.

Bishop Douglas Lucia of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse celebrated a "Mass of Thanksgiving" at St. Thomas Aquinas Church near Lourdes Hospital on Wednesday.

During the Mass, he recalled the time in 2019 shortly after he became bishop when visited the hospital's emergency room for treatment of an earache. He said he received great care even though most people in the department probably didn't know he was the bishop because he showed up wearing shorts and a sweatshirt.

Lucia emphasized the Lourdes tradition of care will continue even as the hospital becomes part of Guthrie.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.