East Cleveland’s Huron Hospital closing

In the end, even Huron Hospital's top crusader had to admit defeat. Gus Kious, MD, a family medicine doctor by training who took over as Huron's president in 1994, fought for years to keep the East Cleveland hospital open. In 1997, the Cleveland Clinic bought the hospital and since 2006 has spent $15 million upgrading equipment and the building. But the halls emptied. "I'm sad," Kious said after the Clinic announced it was closing the 137-year-old Huron. "Who wouldn't be sad? I've worked very hard to build something of great value." There was a time when Huron, constructed on land that once belonged to industrial titan John D. Rockefeller, bustled. In recent decades, as the surrounding neighborhoods grew increasingly impoverished, the hospital became a destination training ground for young physicians and residents who wanted to work in a fast-paced urban environment.