In a shocking and sudden blow to one of Trenton’s most vulnerable communities, Capital Health announced the immediate closure of its Satellite Emergency Department and outpatient clinic on Bert Avenue, citing structural dangers in an adjoining building, but city officials have not seemed to notice.
The decision, made with no prior warning to the public, leaves East Trenton residents scrambling for emergency care and raises urgent questions about the stability of the city’s already strained healthcare infrastructure.
At 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the outpatient clinic ceased operations.
By 7 a.m. this morning, the emergency department—a vital lifeline for countless residents—will turn away patients, forcing them to travel miles farther for critical care.
The reason? A crumbling building next door, deemed so unsafe by engineers that Capital Health had no choice but to abandon the facility. But for the people who relied on these services—many of whom lack reliable transportation or the means to travel—this is more than an inconvenience. It is a crisis.
Capital Health is leasing that space from Trinity Health at the former St. Francis campus.
Capital Health insists patients should now go to its other locations—the Regional Medical Center on Brunswick Avenue or the Hopewell facility in Pennington.
But for those in East Trenton, already a healthcare desert, the added distance could mean the difference between life and death.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora did not comment on the closing, and the Citizens’ Health And Neighborhood Growth Engagement (CHANGE) Committee he established in May 2022 appears to have been inactive since 2023.
Bishop Philip M. Bonaparte, who chairs CHANGE’s Community Health Subcommittee, is the senior pastor of New Hope Church of God, located less than half a mile from the shuttered emergency medical facility.
Ambulances will now bypass Bert Avenue entirely, rerouting to more distant hospitals, while walk-in patients—many unaware of the closure—may arrive to locked doors and empty halls.
The health system’s CEO, Al Maghazehe, expressed frustration, saying Capital Health had “worked tirelessly” to maintain services since taking over from St. Francis two years ago.
But where was the contingency plan? Where was the advance warning? And why, after leasing a facility from Trinity Health, was there no foresight into the structural risks now forcing this abrupt retreat?
This is more than a building failure. It is a systemic failure—one that will disproportionately hurt Trenton’s poorest and sickest. The city, already grappling with hospital closures and dwindling resources, cannot afford another gap in care. Yet here we are, with no immediate solution, no temporary facility, and no clear timeline for restoration.
For now, East Trenton’s sick and injured must navigate longer journeys for help, praying they make it in time. And as officials scramble to “identify the best path forward,” one thing is certain: when the next emergency strikes, the people of this neighborhood will pay the price.