The outcry over hospital closures

Also: Insurance refused to pay for her abortion, even when her life was at stake [❤️ Donate]( [View in Browser]( August 27, 2024    Hi CommonHealth reader, Almost four months after Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy, there is a lot we still don't know about the future of the company's hospitals. And what we do know has been hard for many to hear. Two of Steward's Massachusetts hospitals - Carney Hospital in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer - are preparing to shut their doors at the end of this week. The impending closures have sparked outcries in the communities that rely on these hospitals. Since [the news broke a month ago]( local officials, patients and health care workers have called on Gov. Maura Healey to prevent the closures, but to no avail. I attended public hearings this month where people turned out by the hundreds to protest the hospital closures. What I heard was a mix of shock, outrage and grief. For several hours, people spoke about the significance of these hospitals in their lives and in their communities. "I don't know what stage I'm in: Anger? Denial? But I know what stage I will not get to, and that's acceptance," Boston City Councilor John FitzGerald said at the hearing about Carney Hospital's closure. "Our patients need us," said Maryanne Murphy, a longtime employee of Carney's radiology department. "Our hospital saves lives. Our employees save lives." During an emergency, when just a few minutes can be the difference between life and death, Murphy and others said they fear for patients who will have to travel longer distances for medical care. With Carney gone, health inequities in Dorchester and surrounding neighborhoods will deepen, they said. In Ayer, a smaller and more isolated community in north-central Massachusetts, the concerns were similar. Beth Reid, an imaging technologist at Nashoba Valley, said patients have been crying in her office because they don't know where they will go for care after the hospital closes. Reid said she has lived in Ayer for 38 years and has worked at the hospital for about as long. "This is just an unbelievable nightmare," she said. "I can't believe that this is actually happening. And our poor patients are the ones that will suffer." Pam Papineau, chair of the Ayer Board of Health, whose family members have been patients at Nashoba Valley, said the hospital "has always been there for us." "The staff are not just our trusted health care providers, they're our friends, our family, our neighbors," she said. "We rely on them." Dr. Robbie Goldstein, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, sat in the front row for all of this testimony, at both public hearings. He called the closures unfair but said there's nothing his department can do to stop them. Health officials have asked Steward to submit detailed plans outlining how patients will have access to care after Carney and Nashoba Valley shut their doors. Steward officials, for their part, have called the closures unavoidable, after the hospitals failed to receive any qualified bids from potential buyers. Meanwhile, Steward is still negotiating sales agreements for five other Massachusetts hospitals. Healey recently [announced the buyers]( - but Steward has repeatedly delayed a court date to get approval for the sales, and the deals remain unfinished. My colleagues and I will continue to stay on top of this important story in the weeks and months ahead. P.S. - We're off next week for the Labor Day holiday. We'll be back in your inboxes Sept. 10. 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