In response to the employees – including nurses – being laid off at Kimball Medical Center due to the recent changes and merge announcement, the hospital released the following statement to TLS.

“We continue to make changes at Kimball Medical Center to better meet the needs of the community, including an $11 million investment in the facility and an expansion of our outpatient services. Some of these changes will impact employees, however, we are working with those employees to help them pursue other opportunities within the Barnabas Health system.”

The recent changes – and subsequent layoffs – come as the hospital merges with Monmouth Medical Center, as first reported by TLS in January.

The latest project in the hospital’s expansion is the Geriatric Emergency Unit, which was unveiled last month. [TLS]