Another planned closure for Kaleida Health. This time, it's a family planning clinic
Workers, patients and elected officials rallied against another planned closure of a Kaleida Health facility, Thursday.The Family Planning Clinic at 1100 Main Street in downtown Buffalo is slated for closure this November. The clinic provides gynecologic care, as well as STI and HIV testing and community health education programs. Medical Director Dr Benita Lipford has worked at the facility for 25 years. She said she and her staff serve between 10 to 20 patients a day. "We have been serving multi generations of patients, youth, men, women, whether or not they are able to pay or not," Lipford said. "We also help our patients help navigate the medical system, which, as you know, can be challenging."The clinic is one of five Kaleida facilities or services slated to be shuttered before the end of the year: Buffalo Therapy Services at 705 Maple Road in Williamsville, Buffalo Therapy Services in North Tonawanda, the Millard Fillmore Surgery Center and the Ear Nose and Throat Center at Buffalo General.In a statement, Kaleida Health put the closures down to rising costs, staffing shortages and pending federal funding reductions due to Medicaid cuts. They also disputed Lipford's numbers, saying the clinic sees an average of six to seven patients daily. Operating since 1972, the Family Planning Clinic was originally located on Riley Street. Those gathered outside the Main Street location Thursday called to halt the closure, for Gov. Kathy Hochul to step in with state support and for the federal government to reverse cuts to Medicaid. State Senator April Baskin detailed how the clinic supports the nearby Fruit Belt neighborhood -- a historically Black community."That is a community of homeowners, of grandmothers, of children, of educators of civil servants, of residents — our neighbors who, year after year after year, have government and big business making decisions about what happens in their backyard, and they are the ones who are impacted first at all times," Baskin said. Congressman Tim Kennedy blamed Congressional Republicans and Medicaid cuts within the Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill" for the situation."Sadly, it's just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "Rural hospitals continue to struggle with nearly a dozen in New York state alone at risk of closure," he said.Republicans argue that people should work to get Medicaid and that the cuts reduce wasteful government spending. Kaleida Health said in a statement the closures were part of a $200 million strategic plan launched earlier this year, designed to "enhance patient care, strengthen the organization’s long-term sustainability and expand access to the care and services our community needs most."They added: "While closing some services and locations and implementing workforce reductions in certain areas are part of this plan, there are also commitments to grow through new service offerings, investments in technology and enhancements to patient care."
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