The long battle to keep St. Vincent's Hospital open has been lost, as the Greenwich Village hospital stopped accepting patients to its emergency room early Friday morning.

At 7 a.m., the doors to the emergency room closed and an hour later, the doors were locked. Shortly after that, the exterior signs and flags were taken down from the main building at Seventh Avenue and 12th Street.

Some board members looked on misty-eyed.

New signs have been posted on the windows alerting people of the closure and suggesting other hospitals they can go to.

The ER treated 43 people during its final overnight. Two were sent to other hospitals.

The final patient was a Tampa man who was treated for asthma problems.

"I don't know why they are closing the hospital, but it felt sad inside," said patient Mohammed Abuelenen. "They gave a speech to each other about how they were proud to be serving the hospital; some of them cried."

After he was released, the ambulance doors were boarded up.

"Locks were put on some things and people were so upset they couldn't put on the locks," said a hospital worker Jesse Blumenthal.

The Catholic hospital has served the community for the past 160 years – treating survivors from the Titanic and the September 11th terrorist attacks.

"It's totally seared in my memory," said Eileen Dunn, local president of the nurses association. "Working 9/11 was a life-changing event for me."

But earlier this month, it filed for bankruptcy with debts topping one billion dollars. Nearly 3,500 doctors and staff are now out of work.

"It has truly hurt me tremendously,” said operating room coordinator Linda Milhouse. “I grew up here. I started working here when I was 18, so it's been a long time."

"A lot of us who work here would like to know what happened, how it happened so fast, and it really should be investigated how this all happened,” said operating room nurse Nancy Thaler. “We're just very upset."

St. Vincent's was the last Catholic-run hospital operating in the city.

Its Cancer Care Center and HIV-AIDS clinic are staying open for now.

The New York City Fire Department will increase ambulance coverage on the West Side by 15 percent. Five additional ambulances will cover the area near St. Vincent's.

Lenox Hill Hospital has received grants to operate an urgent care center in the neighborhood, but it might take two or three months to get it up and running.

In the meantime, Saint Vincent's has two ambulances standing by at the facility for the next two weeks.

Hospital Workers Hold Final Toast

Dozens of now former Saint Vincent's workers gathered at a local bar Friday to commemorate the closing of the hospital.

Some worked at the hospital for decades and shared memories of their time there.

"Hopefully we'll be able to find work in our field, we're sorry to go but there's not much we can do about it," said one St. Vincent's worker.

"It's a pleasure working there, it's like a family, we had fun there. There were more good times than bad times and I'm going to miss everybody," said another.

Saint Vincent's Hospital has held a series of job fairs for its employees.

Several city hospitals participated.