UPDATE 8/21/10 @ 10 p.m.
ASHLAND, Ky. (WSAZ) -- It's been about three weeks since Kings Daughters Medical Center in Ashland unexpectedly laid off dozens of workers.

Saturday union workers from a different hospital stepped in to show their support.

Several Cabell Huntington Hospital employees met up with some of the laid off KDMC workers at Ashland Central Park and donated a truckload of food and supplies.

The former KDMC employees say after losing their source of income, getting a hand from their fellow union members makes a big difference.

"It makes a huge difference,” laid off worker Sarah Fullerton said. “When I first got here I was a little overwhelmed and had to let go of my pride a little bit.”

Pam Booth, an employee from Cabell Huntington Hospital, says it's all about sticking together.

"These people are my brothers and my sisters,” Booth said. “An injury to one of us is an injury to all. I don't like that they're suffering in any kind of way."

Union workers say they're planning to deliver more food for the laid off workers at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

According to the employee's union, KDMC is now hiring back some of the workers, but at a major cost to them whether they take the jobs or not.

Tina Kouns is the mother of two. She worked for KDMC as an emergency room scrub before being laid off, something that she tells WSAZ.com's Stephanie Schelkun is still rattling her family.

"I have a diabetic child," Kouns says . "He's been a diabetic since he was 10 years old, and the extra income helped me to care for him and [KDMC] didn't even care."

KDMC is expected to send out recall letters to 15 of the 77 laid-off workers this Monday, Aug. 23.

However, the jobs they are being called back to are in fields like food services and housekeeping.

The workers' union tells WSAZ.com that if these employees do not accept the positions, many of which are part-time with big pay cuts, their laid-off status will then turn into being fired.

"I don't think you should be forced to do something that you're not experienced in," says Sheila Bowling, another KDMC laid-off worker. "And that's what they are trying to do to us."

"I walked around the community the last two weeks in kind of like a fog," laid-off employee David Herford tells Stephanie. "Seeing people that I knew that have families that now don't have jobs."

It's these families who depend on unemployment checks to make ends meet, but for those who don't take the offered positions Monday, that money will stop.

The union tells us the fight for these KDMC jobs is far from over. It started wrong and it continues to get worse.

The union representative tells WSAZ.com that the union plans on fighting these layoffs and recall. They are now going to the National Labor Relations Board.

"We had a really good plan worked out, me working here [KDMC] going to school, and after I get through school hopefully get a job here and then everything kind of just came to a screeching hault," says Michael Huffman, a former employee of King's Daughters Medical Center.

For years, Huffman tells WSAZ.com that he wasn't exactly sure what his calling in life was, what he was supposed to do, until just a couple of years ago.

"Its funny because I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life until I started working here and then seeing how the nurses were actually helping everybody," he says. "I mean you see somebody laying here in a bed and then two weeks later you see them walking through the mall. Its just a good feeling knowing that you can help somebody like that."

But his dreams of becoming a registered nurse, starting the King's Daughters RN program in a few weeks is now just a hope.

Huffman told WSAZ.com's Stephanie Schelkun that this layoff definitely threw a rock in the water, but even though he's now out of a job, with no clue how to pay for school, Michael told Stephanie he's not giving up on his dream of helping others.

Based on the responses we’ve had from callers and by e-mail, that’s the question on a lot of people’s minds.

Overall, KDMC leaders are not saying much – certainly not on camera and not about job cut numbers. KDMC officials say their focus is on patients and employees.

Union leaders tell us 82 union jobs were eliminated, while 150 or so more were cut or hours reduced or shuffled.

KDMC counted about 4,200 workers before the job cuts, which were blamed on the sluggish economy. They were forced job cuts, affecting many non-union employees.

WSAZ.com’s Randy Yohe found out there could be more to come. He also spoke with people who had lost their jobs at KDMC, including registered nurse Melissa Blagg.

After two years of service at KDMC, Blagg did not know her plans to raise her young family also now includes a challenging job search.

"I don't know," she said. "I've got two young children and one on the way. My insurance ends Aug. 10. I’m not sure what will happen."

Blagg already has applied at neighboring Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, where the online career opportunity page hits have spiked since the KDMC job cuts were announced.

KDMC says the workforce reduction plan blankets all their 15 satellite centers in Kentucky and Ohio, including a clinic in South Point, Ohio. We received calls from patients who say their small town center is closed for good, and they have to go elsewhere.

At a busy Ashland state unemployment center, managers say -- from valets to nurses -- they're seeing former KDMC employees by the dozens. It includes employees like certified medical transcriptionist Christy VerCrouse, who's says significant numbers of the King’s Daughters CMT positions like hers were eliminated.

"We've got no one to stand up for us," VerCrouse says.

Fired King's Daughters radiologist Kim Wilburn is one of many who say the significant numbers of job losses will affect patient care.

"With the people they are losing, there’s no way it can’t," Wilburn says.

Several KDMC patients told Yohe on Wednesday, though, that their care was not affected at all. We also learned that KDMC's CEO Fred Jackson continues to run the operation.

“I am the only income in our house and you got two kids crying,” said Clint Salmons, a former employee at KDMC.

This is the emotion so many employees of King's Daughters Medical Center are feeling after coming face to face to with the reality of mass job eliminations. Layoffs are something so many industries across the country are facing, but for many in our region, this one is different.

“They had their badge forcefully taken away from them they were escorted out by security guards,” said Rob Johnson, Hospital Division Director of Service Employees International Union District 1199. “They were taken to their lockers and taken everything from their lockers and the employers put a padlock on there.”

Many employees came to work Tuesday like any other day, but are now worrying about how to pay their bills and put food on the table.

“It’s going to affect a lot,” said Gerri Richardson. “My paycheck is what pays the rent my husbands pays the bills it’s going to hurt us and affect us in a bad way.”

These employees say they are not done fighting for their jobs, especially because of how they say the situation was handled.

“I am a 21 year employee and I have been through layoffs before but I have never been through one that has been bumbled the way this one had,” said Paula Brainard.

The fight may be a long one, and for many of these folks, it’s now time to look towards the future and hope for the best.

The head of the union, Rob Johnson, told WSAZ.com’s Stephanie Schelkun Tuesday evening that they do plan on challenging this mass job elimination because he says the hospital breached its contract with the union.

Based on the union contract, employees were to be given seven days notice of termination and at least 3 days to make a decision on whether to accept a part time position if that was offered. Both of those stipulations were not followed Tuesday.

Kings Daughter's released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying, in part that “this reduction in our workforce was done only as a last resort, but we had to respond to the continuing economic realities of the recession.” You can read the full statement from the hospital further down this page.

King's Daughters Medical Center has still not released information on the total number of employees that were let go. The information released on the number of employees let go came from the local union.

WSAZ.com’s Randy Yohe is working to get a full statement from the KDMC with a complete amount of employees that were let go, and what the future is for the hospital.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

Eighty-two employees were let go from King's Daughters Medical Center Tuesday. They were escorted by security guards to clean out their lockers, their badges were taken and then they were escorted off the premises.

Additionally, 150 employees were given the opportunity to go part-time, change shifts or just leave, all of the options included a reduction in pay.

Johnson tells WSAZ.com the union is going to fight because of their contract. Johnson says the contract stipulates that they have to be given 7 days notice and 3 days to decide on a move like this.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

The economic recession has hit our region hard and is lasting longer than anyone expected. KDMC has weathered the economic downturn for two years by minimizing capital expenditures, changing benefits, renegotiating contracts and changing flow processes whenever possible to improve efficiency. However, the harsh reality is that patients are delaying their own healthcare and often those who are receiving the needed care cannot pay for it. Unreimbursed care and bad debt are at an all-time high for our organization — approaching the $100 million mark this year, which is a 33 percent increase over just a year ago. This is a $25 million dollar difference in one year. Cost reductions alone cannot compensate for this change in our community and in our country.

We are here to serve all those who come through our doors and are committed to providing the same high quality, customer focused care to all individuals. This reduction in our workforce was done only as a last resort, but we had to respond to the continuing economic realities of the recession. KDMC has experienced many economic ups and downs over the past 111 years. We will manage through this situation so that we can care for our patients and their families for another 100 years at the very highest levels that our community has come to expect.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

NewsChannel 3’s Randy Yohe is in Ashland and has confirmed the layoffs with a number of employees. He was also given a copy of the letter employees are receiving.

Randy Yohe will be live at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. with the latest information.

NewsChannel 3’s Randy Yohe has spent the day in Ashland and has confirmed the layoffs with a number of employees. He was also given a copy of the letter employees are receiving.

WSAZ has made numerous calls into adminstrators to get an exact number of employees being laid off. We're told KDMC will release a statement after they have taken care of their employees.

The letter employees are receiving states, “KDMC has made the difficult decision that a reduction in force is necessary. The decision is critical for the future of King’s Daughters and our community…We sincerely wish we had another option, but the steps being taken are in response to economic exigencies such as the recession, reimbursement decreases and a significant increase in the number of patients that are unable to pay for medical care.”

The letter also indicates the layoffs are effective immediately.

Employees say the layoffs impact a number of departments.

Ashland's Mayor says he belives several hundred employees are losing their job.

The union representing a number of workers at the hospital has called a 4:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the layoffs.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for updated information.

Below is a copy of the letter given to one of the employees: