LOS ANGELES — One of the oldest hospitals in Southern California closed ts doors Friday in the Westlake District, after it was unable to complete a sale of the facility. Verity Health System is shutting down St. Vincent Medical Center, which was originally founded as a hospital in 1856.

"Its disbelief. It's sadness. It's fond memories too,” said Tess Lim who worked at the facility for over three years. Lim was given just three days notice that her job as an ER nurse at St. Vincent was ending along with the hospital's 163-year history of serving Angelenos.

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"I’m in a state of shock and disbelief. I almost didn't believe it because it happened so suddenly," Lim said. "We knew that there was talk about there being a bankruptcy, and that there was a negotiation going on. But honestly, I really didn't expect the hospital to close. I didn't think it would become a reality.”

Lim is one of more than 1,300 hospital employees who have been laid off after the owner, Verity Health, announced on January 6 that it was closing the facility on January 24. Management said they exhausted every option in an attempt to keep it open. 

Community leaders fear the hospital’s closing will have a ripple effect throughout the community and force the poor and elderly to travel farther away for health care. Verity Health filed for bankruptcy protection in 2018.

At the time, officials said the company had more than $1 billion of debt from bonds and unfunded pension liabilities and needed cash to make seismic repairs to its aging facilities. They said they’d purchased the hospitals in 2017 hoping to get back to financial health but could not.

The St. Vincent emergency room saw about 14,000 patients a year and Lim has come to know some of the people in the community that came into the ER on a regular basis.

“The homeless people that come in have become near and dear to my heart," Lim said. "I know that Mr. F likes a tuna sandwich, and Mr. T likes a turkey sandwich. I know who likes orange juice and who prefers cranberry.”

A farewell lunch turned into a small protest of staff who were angry and upset that they were given such short notice that they would be out of work.

“They notified us about the closure on January 6, but they knew about the closure along time ago. It’s just not right. They betrayed us. They deceived us,” said nurse Rachelle Ann Agusten as she wiped away tears. She says she is concerned about where she is going to end up next, and about losing health benefits.

Despite the abrupt end to her job here, Lim says she will have fond memories of the place where her mother also worked for 22 years before her.

“I love my job, and I love what I do, and I love what this hospital represented," said Lim. "We served the under-served the population that is just so easily ignored.”

She stood outside the hospital looking at the St. Vincent sign and clutched her nurses badge one last time. This is the end of an era for this hospital.

Lim is hopeful that she will continue helping the people in the community she has come to call her second home when she starts her new job as an ER nurse at Good Samaritan in a few weeks time.