The firing comes after a long period of financial upheaval. From October 2017 through November 2018, the hospital eliminated several services and closed its pain management center, wound clinic, an urgent care center and its home health unit.
Last November, it announced plans to end hospice and obstetric services; reduce inpatient medical and surgical services; and make staffing adjustments in the emergency department as part of a reorganization. The hospital’s birth center closed Jan. 2.
Shortly after the reorganization announcement, Mr. LaBarge said he would take a 10 percent pay cut to help the hospital improve its finances. At the time he told the Sturgis Journal that he “never thought of leaving. I’ve dedicated 18 years of my life to running this place. This is my community.”
Sturgis was slated to close its cancer treatment center, but the hospital announced this month that it partnered with Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., to continue oncology services.
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