More jobs will be coming to New London as a direct result of Lawrence + Memorial Hospital's recent affiliation with Yale-New Haven Health.
Forty new jobs will be created and 79 positions will remain in New London, instead of transferring to other parts of the state, the new L+M Hospital president and CEO, Patrick Green, said.
The jobs will be for Northeast Medical, the physician-owned foundation of Yale-New Haven Health, according to Green. A hospital spokesperson said the jobs involve financial services and billing.
The announcement has Jill Quinn, who works in Patient Accounts at L+M Hospital, letting out a sigh of relief. She lives in Oakdale and has worked in New London for 16 years. She's one of the 79 who gets to keep working in New London.
"We all have families, we have after job things, we have kids,” Quinn said.
New London Mayor Michael Passero touted the news for helping the local economy in several ways.
“Between the jobs the L+M and the Yale New Haven affiliation are creating, and jobs that (Electric Boat) is creating right now, the need for housing in New London is— we can't build enough housing to satisfy the need,” Passero said.
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Local businesses, like the Recovery Room in New London, will also benefit by the boost to the job force. Chef Luigi Sferrazza said L+M staff makes up a majority of the lunch crowd.
"There's a party of nurses that are sitting in that room and we also have order for 20 pizzas that are sitting on top of the oven that are going to L+M," Sferrazza said.
The restaurant is within walking distance of L+M. Sferrazza said his restaurant even delivers to the hospital – sometimes to specific floors.
"We really felt L+M when they went on strike. Those two weeks were the slowest weeks we ever had here for lunch. So we depend on them and value their business,” Sferrazza said.
A spokesperson for the hospital said these new jobs are in the early stages. Staff is working on job descriptions and putting a recruiting plan in place.
