MISHAWAKA — Big changes are ahead for Mishawaka. Tuesday, Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center announced it is closing part of its Mishawaka hospital sooner than expected.

It's also cutting 60 jobs from its campuses, and 30 of those are in Mishawaka.

It is an emotional end of an era for an entire community.

In downtown Mishawaka, change is in the air. Just a few places have stayed the same, like the railroad museum, the Methodist church, and the hospital at Fourth and Spring.

"We've used it a long time,” Mishawaka native Connie Stabler told WSBT News. “I was born there.”

And so were Stabler's three sisters. One lives right across the street from the emergency room. But in just a few weeks, the hospital, as neighbors have known it for decades, will undergo a change of its own.

It's moving to the north side of the city into a $355 million state-of-the-art facility.

And this week, administrators announced they're closing part of the old hospital sooner than expected, moving inpatient services and many outpatient programs to South Bend until the new place is finished.

Neighbors like Connie Stabler hate to see it go.

"Because it’s close, so close for people here,” she said. “The traffic out there is crazy. I just dread going out there anytime.”

“A hospital plays a very important part in anybody's life,” said SJRMC President and CEO Nancy Hellyer. “And so it's very sentimental and this is very tough for the people in that community and we do understand that.”

Hospital executives say they doors won't completely shut. They plan on keeping the ER open downtown Mishawaka even after the new hospital is built.

"We'd like to start with this free-standing ER and see how it goes,” Hellyer said. “We're hoping the community uses it.”

As for the rest of the building …

"I think they should use this one for something important,” Stabler said.

Like a VA hospital, she says, which executives say they're open to, hoping to keep the memory of this long-time hometown hospital alive.

Hellyer says talks are ongoing about a possible VA Center, but the VA says the facility may be too big.