Bay Area Regional Medical Center announced its immediate closure on Friday but some laid off employees have already landed on their feet.
It’s all thanks to hastily-arranged job fairs put on by competing hospitals.
“I’m a widow with three kids, so it hit me very hard,” said laid-off employee Shelita Hayes.
Hayes worked in the billing department.
One of her children, 20 year-old Octavia, was a fellow employee who’s suddenly out of work too.
“I’m just trying to find a job,” said Hayes. “Just trying to pick up the pieces and make sure we’re going to be okay.”
Hayes came to a job fair hosted by Methodist Hospital at a nearby Holiday Inn.
That’s where at least 100 people lined up first thing Monday morning.
“It’s very difficult and our heart goes out to them,” said Sherri Sampson with Methodist Hospital human resources.
Methodist alone has more than 1200 openings system-wide.
About 900 were laid off by Bay Area Regional.
“We’re very happy to be able to help these people,” said Sampson. “They’ve all been very professional and very nice and they seem to live our values... So, I think we’re going to be interested in a lot of them.”
A number of people were hired on the spot.
“I’m going to miss this place,” said ER RN Kenneth Mutia.
Mutia is still looking and had only positive parting words for Bay Area Regional other than the way things ended.
“My director is awesome, my coworkers awesome,” said Mutia. “We’re just shocked about what we have right now.”
He and others hope their careers go from critical to stable as soon as possible.
“We’re just going to try and hit up everyone that we can,” said Hayes.
Houston Methodist is hosting another job fair Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Orion Ballroom at the Holiday Inn located at 302 West Bay Area Blvd. in Webster. For more information and to apply online, click here.
In addition to Methodist, Memorial Hermann is hosting a job fair this week at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital in the Professional Building. Here are the hours:
Tuesday, May 8 - 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 9 - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
HCA Gulf Coast is also holding a career fair Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center.