SYRACUSE -- Employees from Community General Hospital voiced their concerns at a public forum Thursday night.  At the forum, officials from Community General and University hospitals provided information about a planned merger.

The two hospitals hope to submit a plan to the Department of Health in March, then have a deal in place by July or August. The actual merger will take a few years to finish.

Upstate says this merger plan will give the hospital more capacity for beds, and more places for students to go.

Community General officials say they knew they would have to merge with someone. The hospital had a $2 million loss last year. With this merger, the hospital can invest more in its future, and have more access to specialists from Upstate.

"We will be challenged going forward," says Tom Quinn, CEO and president of Community General.  "Our board of directors recognized that and said let's look for a capital partner, a way to reduce our fixed costs."

Right now, there are about 8,000 employees at Upstate and 1,100 at Community General. Officials are hoping to keep a substantial number of that total, but have not released specific numbers.

Rosemarie Glover has been a nurse at Community General for 23 years.  She says she's worried about what will happen to her job after the merger.

"I'm 68 years old," she says.  "If I have to go into the state system, although I go to work every day now, and I'm relatively healthy, what would happen when I was 78 years old?  Would I be an asset?"

Other employees who spoke at the forum said they were worried they would lose the benefits and vacation time they've earned.

John McCabe, CEO of University Hospital, says he hopes Community General will be able to keep its identity, and he hopes the workers will be able to keep what they've earned.

"We will be as fair as we can," says McCabe.  "We will produce a system that will take good care of patients, and we hope we'll produce the system that will be the right one five and 10 and 20 years from now."

The hospitals have developed a website where they answer frequently asked questions about the merger.  You can find it here.

A community forum is underway to give the public a chance to talk about the merger. Jessica Cain will have the latest tonight on NBC3 and CBS5 News at 11:00. You can also find updates here on CNYcentral.com.

Original story:

The public will have the chance to speak out tonight about a proposed merger between Upstate University Hospital and Community General Hospital.

At 6pm, the CEOs from both hospitals are expected to lay out their plans at the CNY Philanthropy Center at 431 E. Fayette St. in Syracuse.

In late December, Moody's Investors Services downgraded Community General's bond rating from B2 to Caa1, saying a "negative outlook is maintained at the lower rating level."

Tim Bobo, executive director of the CNY Health Systems Agency, says the hospitals have already made their plans. He says it's designed to be an asset acquisition, and it will likely be set up as one hospital with two campuses.