Laid off from Christus Health.

What Christus Health layoffs have meant for employees

The openings Christus pointed displaced staff toward after closing or cutting back a hospital were at other hospitals, and sometimes in other cities. St. Mary's obstetrics and other inpatient services were to move to St. Elizabeth in Beaumont, and in 2015 the 162 associates it didn't keep were to be offered opportunities within the Southeast Texas region, Port Arthur News reported. Many of Shreveport's services were to consolidate at Highland Medical Center, per Red River Radio. In San Antonio Christus pledged to help place Medical Center associates at other area facilities, and its closing announcement put Westover Hills 13 miles and Alamo Heights 9 miles from the closed campus. If you're offered a transfer to another campus, you can make the drive at the hour your shift would start to see what the commute is like.

Both times Christus shrank or closed St. Mary, the open positions it named were fewer than the people affected, by Port Arthur News's 2019 count and its 2015 report, though in 2015 Christus also cited more than 1,000 open positions across its system. If staying on with Christus is what you want, you can apply to openings at the Christus hospitals near you.

In the 2019 and 2025 closings, severance was promised to people Christus couldn't place, so turning down a transfer could leave severance in doubt. Neither KSAT's report on the 2025 staff letter nor Port Arthur News's account of the 2019 plan says how a declined offer is treated. Christus also told KSAT that the Medical Center's nurses weren't part of any union. If you're in that spot, you can keep copies of the transfer offer and any severance letter Christus gives you, along with the date each arrived.

Each time Christus cut back St. Mary, it planned to keep some care in Port Arthur. After the 2015 change the hospital was to keep its emergency room, outpatient chemotherapy and infusion, radiology, laboratory and surgery, Port Arthur News reported. In 2019 Christus planned to keep outpatient care at a renamed Christus St. Mary Outpatient Center Mid County and to relocate the maternity and women's center, the health management clinic and community health workers so they could keep serving Port Arthur. Patients needing acute care were pointed to St. Elizabeth in Beaumont, while leaders said the old hospital building would be demolished.

When Christus St. Vincent handed the employment of its obstetrics providers in Santa Fe to Ob Hospitalist Group in 2024, its leaders said they could recruit from a wider pool through the contractor's national network amid New Mexico's staffing woes, and that an obstetrician would be in the hospital 24/7, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Its chief operating officer called the cost difference basically neutral, and the hospital's gynecologists stayed on as Christus St. Vincent employees. If your unit is handed to a contractor and you're offered a place with it, that job comes from a new employer, so you can treat it as you would any new job offer, pay, benefits and seniority included.

Christus said its 2025 closing followed an evaluation of the Medical Center's operations and the community's evolving health care needs. Separately, the hospital's beds had averaged one-third full, Christus told the San Antonio Report, with about half of those patients sent over from Westover Hills. Christus Southeast Texas officials said St. Mary's 2019 closing followed years of declining numbers, and the 2013 Shreveport plan was a cost-cutting move, Red River Radio reported, with Sutton Children's Medical Center running a $10 million annual deficit. If you worked for Christus in Texas, the filing steps and weekly amounts are covered on Texas unemployment benefits, Shreveport staff can turn to Louisiana unemployment benefits, and Santa Fe staff to New Mexico unemployment benefits.