Good Samaritan Hospital demolition underway, will last months

DAYTON — Demolition work at the former Good Samaritan Hospital began two months ago and will continue over the next year, officials with Premier Health revealed Thursday night at a community meeting.

Already, the officials said, crews from O’Rourke Demolition of Cincinnati have started interior demolition work, including asbestos abatement and recovery of assets within the former hospital.

Tearing down the hospital’s exterior will begin in several weeks, the officials said.

Premier Health said the demolition will cost approximately $10 million. The Rev. Dr. Rockney Carter of the Clergy Community Coalition, which is fighting the hospital’s closure with a federal complaint, said the coalition believes the true cost of demolition is closer to $16 million.

Tearing down the hospital will be done in phases, said Jeff Sizemore, who represented O’Rourke during the meeting at Fairview United Methodist Church. The company plans to use excavators, cranes and other equipment to raze the structure. Explosives will not be used, he said.

Workers will keep a 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule Monday through Friday during the project, with some Saturday work anticipated. Sizemore said he did not anticipate traffic problems or road closures.

Sizemore said his company also has handled the dismantling of the ex-hospital’s Catholic chapel, salvaging sacred items for transfer to other Catholic organizations, while preparing other fixtures, such as doors, chandeliers and stained glass, for storage at a Premier Health warehouse on Dryden Road. No plans have been identified for those non-sacred fixtures.

The meeting, as with others about the hospital’s controversial shuttering, occasionally became heated. Though Premier Health officials insisted they were being transparent, several in the audience leveled sharp critiques at the health system’s representatives.

“You haven’t been transparent from the very beginning,” said Bishop Richard Cox. “God is going to hold you accountable because of it.”

Throughout the meeting, Premier Health officials reiterated their care for the community and the neighborhood, noting the hospital system remains committed to redeveloping the site. But even that assertion drew skepticism from the crowd. At the meeting’s end, one resident asked the Premier Health officials on stage if any of them lived in the city of Dayton. None raised their hands.

“Premier can’t leave just a small urgent care facility on Philadelphia and Salem? Give me a break,” said Elizabeth Makiewicz, a resident at the meeting. “How the hell can they talk about caring for this neighborhood? It’s just wrong.”