by peter e. bortner
Starting today, pieces of Saint Catherine Medical Center Fountain Springs, a bulwark of northern Schuylkill County for more than a century, will be scattered to the four winds.
At 9 a.m., the auction of the property of the bankrupt hospital will begin at the 101 Broad St. site just outside Ashland in Butler Township where tens of thousands of county residents have received medical care since 1879.
Houser Auctioneers, Schnecksville, will conduct the sale, which is open to anyone.
"It's a very large sale," said William G. Schwab, the Lehighton lawyer who is the trustee in bankruptcy for the medical center. "I don't know how long we'll go."
The auction marks another step in the dissolution of Saint Catherine.
Saint Catherine Hospital of Pennsylvania LLC filed for bankruptcy April 9, asking the court to allow it to reorganize. It originally filed the petition as a Chapter 11 reorganization case, but Thomas on April 18 converted the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation one.
The state Department of Health has revoked the 107-bed hospital's license and its approximately 150 employees have been left out of work.
Schwab said nonmedical supplies, including vehicles, tools and furniture, from the hospital will be sold today.
He said the auction will continue Monday with the sale of medical supplies, and again on Nov. 9 with the sale of medical supplies. On the latter day, the sale also will be conducted over the Internet because of anticipated nationwide demand for the items, Schwab said.
Schwab said the auction could go into a fourth, and perhaps a fifth, day.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John J. Thomas approved the sale on Aug. 30.
Founded as the State Hospital for Injured Persons of the Anthracite Coal Region at Fountain Springs by the state Legislature in 1879, the construction of the original facility began in May 1880 and was completed in 1882.
At the Aug. 30 hearing where Thomas authorized the sale, Schwab testified that he believes he can sell the personal property for between $400,000 and $500,000. After expenses are deducted, those proceeds, which Schwab estimated would be between $375,000 and $395,000, will be distributed to the hospital's creditors under federal bankruptcy law.