ROCK HILL – On May 4 Crystal Run Healthcare announced in an automated email to patients that the Obstetrics & Gynecology (OB-GYN) practice at the Rock Hill location, 61 Emerald Place, will be closing as of July 1. 

Medical staff at the department will be providing care until June 30. 

According to the email, Dr. Marie Abougou will be moving to Sun River Health in Monticello; Dr. Irvelyne Camille will be going to Garnet Health Doctors in Harris; and Physician Assistant Alexis Manz will be providing care at Crystal Run locations in Middletown and Monroe. 

Information about the fourth doctor at the Rock Hill department—Dr. Melissa Kubenik—was not provided. 

A spokesperson for Optum, which operates Crystal Run Healthcare, said two doctors are relocating to Middletown and that the remainder of the facility in Rock Hill will remain open. 

 Assemblywoman Paula Kay released a statement on the closure, saying, “This is a devastating loss for women’s health in Sullivan County.”

Kay’s statement says that Garnet Health is reinstating its OB-GYN practice. 

“Garnet Health Medical Center – Catskills will continue to provide hospital-based OB-GYN care without interruption,” said Jerry Dunlavey, CEO of Garnet Health Medical Center – Catskills. “Additionally, as access to women’s health services in Sullivan County becomes more limited, Garnet Health responded by reestablishing OB-GYN services within its physician practice.”

Garnet Health Doctors is actively recruiting for an OB-GYN physician to join Dr. Camille, a spokesperson from Garnet Health said.

Dr. Camille will also serve as Garnet Health Doctors’ Medical Director of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The spokesperson from Optum did not respond to questions about the remaining staff members in Rock Hill. 

The closure comes after previous closures of OB-GYN departments in local healthcare offices. 

In 2022, Garnet Health closed the outpatient OB-GYN practice in Middletown and Harris, while labor and delivery services continued. 

And in 2021, Crystal Run closed its Liberty location, with the doctors there moving to Rock Hill. In 2020, the Planned Parenthood in Monticello closed. 

For those who want to stay with Crystal Run, that means driving to the Middletown location, which for some western Sullivan County residents could be an hour away.