Adding to Westerly’s employment woes, Agfa HealthCare Corp. confirmed yesterday that it has trimmed the work force at the company’s Westerly division by 29 workers.

That division, formerly called Heartlab Inc. before it was acquired by Belgium-based Agfa-Gevaert NV in 2005, designs and supplies digital image and information networks for cardiology that is sold to cardiovascular-care centers around the world.

The layoffs were part of a company-wide “savings plan” initiated in August 2006 in which Agfa sought to reduce expenses in all its business groups, according to Barry Stone, chief executive officer of Agfa HealthCare Corp.’s U.S. operations.

“Here in Westerly, Agfa has faced some challenges as well and has, as a result, decided to reduce its work force by 29 staff members,” Stone said in a statement. “Agfa nevertheless remains committed to its activities in Westerly.”

Stone did not elaborate on what challenges the company is facing in Westerly.

It’s not clear how many Afga employees remain in Westerly after the layoffs. At the time of the Heartlab acquisition in 2005, the company said it had about 160 employees.

Afga referred further questions to its communications director at the company’s Ridgefield Park, N.J., offices. Later yesterday afternoon, a company spokeswoman said it would not comment beyond Stone’s five-sentence statement.

The layoffs are the latest in a series of job cuts announced recently by companies in and around Westerly.

Darlington Fabrics laid off 31 of its 269 workers on March 1 when it closed its weekend operations. Peter F. Moore, fourth-generation president of The Moore Co., which owns Darlington Fabrics, blamed “a deteriorating economy, poor market conditions and overseas competition” for a decline in orders.

Bradford Dyeing Association has said it will lay off 44 people on April 5.

Paragon, now known as Blue Sky Brands, has said it will move its operations to West Virginia, eliminating 119 jobs.

Charbert, a Darlington Fabrics subsidiary, began laying off workers last month, with plans to close by the end of March. It had 139 employees in Richmond, South Kingstown and Westerly. That company makes knitted elastic fabric used in swimwear, intimate apparel and athletic wear.

The job losses have alarmed local officials, who plan to meet with area business leaders tomorrow at a Town Hall forum to ask what can be done to keep businesses in Westerly.

“Of course, we were astounded at the things that have been happening,” said Mary Jane DiMaio, president of Westerly’s town council.

“We’re trying to exhaust all of our means,” she said. The town council is holding the forum “to see what the town can to do remedy the situation. We want to try to keep businesses here and our work staff working.”

Joseph Turo, Westerly’s town manager, said the town is looking into offering free courses on résumé writing and job interviewing and sponsoring job fairs to help the affected workers.

“We’re trying to take a very proactive approach,” he said. “But there’s a limit to what a municipality can do.”

Heartlab was once considered one of Rhode Island’s success stories: a home-grown high-tech company that was growing fast. The company was founded in 1994 by Robert Petrocelli, a physicist and computer scientist educated at the University of Rhode Island, and Jonathan Elion, a cardiologist and computer scientist. Its imaging systems allow doctors and hospitals to instantly view high-quality digital cardiac imaging pictures.

The company was named one of America’s fastest-growing private companies for four straight years by Inc. magazine.

In 2000, the company constructed a 15,600-square-foot headquarters on Cross Wind Road in the Westerly Airport Industrial Park at a cost of $1 million. At the time, the company said the new building would have office space for Heartlab’s corporate staff, customer support center, software development laboratories, and a distribution operation, as well as room for anticipated growth. It had 40 employees at the time.

In 2001, Heartland considered an initial public offering to help finance its growth, but it pulled back after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2004, the town of Westerly gave Heartlab a tax-credit package that abated a portion of property taxes on a 24,000-square-foot addition to Heartlab’s headquarters. That year, the company generated $38.3 million in revenues and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $5.4 million.

In 2005, Heartlab was purchased by Agfa-Gevaert NV, based in Mortsel, Belgium, for $132.5 million in cash.

At the time, Petrocelli told The Journal that he expected that the job growth the company had been planning would continue under Agfa.