LAMC CEO John Whiteside

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit hospitals hard causing substantial layoffs such as the 300 employees announced Tuesday by Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.

Los Alamos Medical Center is bucking this trend in not laying off any employees to date.

“So far we have not had to furlough any of our employees, place them on leave of absence or lay them off,” LAMC CEO John Whiteside told the Los Alamos Daily Post.

Since the governor’s ban on elective and non-urgent procedures, most hospitals around the state are seeing a sharp decline in patients and net revenue losses, and COVID-19 patients aren’t making up for those losses.

Lovelace Health System in Albuquerque has announced that it is reducing hours or furloughing more than 600 of its employees and implementing pay reductions for its exempt employees.

Two hospitals in Las Cruces also have announced layoffs. Memorial Medical Center said Monday it will place 125 employees on leave for the next two months. Mountain View Regional Medical Center is furloughing 67 of its approximately 1,500 employees.

Whiteside explained that he is continuing to do everything possible to keep his employees on the job.

“We have gotten creative with flex time for our employees and found other shifts for them … we’ve been very proactive since the beginning to keep our employees working,” he said.

Whiteside also again thanked the Los Alamos community for its support and expressed gratitude to the volunteers who continue sewing and donating masks for the hospital employees.