BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- OK, let's clear the air about Cooper Green Mercy Hospital.

First, it's not going to close.

Come Dec. 1, the target date for changes ordered last week by the Jefferson County Commission, the venerated health care institution for the county's indigent residents will still occupy its building on Sixth Avenue South. Its outpatient clinics will still see and treat the sick. And walk-in care still will be provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said County Manager Tony Petelos.

"Our patients will continue to be served, and none will be left on the street," he said.

But at least three major changes are coming, Petelos said:

That 24/7 walk-in service at Cooper Green will be urgent care, not an emergency room, meaning it will handle problems that require immediate attention but are not life-threatening.

Cooper Green patients who need to be admitted to a hospital will go to some other hospital -- sites still to be determined through agreements between the hospitals and the county -- and Cooper Green will shutter its inpatient hospital care.

Many of Cooper Green's staff will lose their jobs. In addition to about 100 who have been cut since March, Petelos said he expects more than 200 layoffs. The hospital employs 528 people.

"The staff of Cooper Green is very upset," he said. "There is a lot of uncertainty."

[Cooper Green Mercy Hospital discretionary fund audit raises questions.]

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Cooper Green Mercy Hospital changes could draw on indigent care report