Nurses protest outside Gov. Healey's office to halt Nashoba Valley Medical Center closure
Photo I Courtesy of Alison Kuznitz/State House News Service
Nurses from Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer demanded action from Gov. Maura Healey after Steward Health Care announced it would close the facilities at the end of August.
More than 100 nurses from Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer flooded the hallway outside Gov. Maura Healey's office Wednesday morning, demanding that the state intervene and prevent bankrupt Steward Health Care from closing two hospitals in August.
Sens. Jamie Eldridge and Nick Collins, joined by Boston City Councilors John FitzGerald and Ed Flynn, stood at the front of the crowd as they met with representatives from Healey's office. Angered by Steward's plan to buck the state's 120-day notice requirement ahead of closing an essential service, the elected officials and the Massachusetts Nurses Association are urging the administration to consider declaring a state of emergency or dipping into the state's robust rainy day fund to keep the hospitals open.
"There's a $9 billion rainy day fund. It doesn't get rainier than today for us," Audra Sprague, a registered nurse at Nashoba, said. "For the governor to say she has no power, she has no control, it absolutely can't be true. Why would you have made the promises that you made in the beginning that you were going to maintain access to care, make sure all the hospitals stayed open, and do all this stuff if you had no control?"
Nurses led chants of "it's a rainy day," while holding up signs that read, "This IS a Rainy Day Governor!"
Patients seeking care at Nashoba in Ayer typically travel five to 15 minutes to get there, Sprague said. She warned that if the hospital closes, that travel distance could triple or quadruple.
"People will die -- 1,000 percent," Sprague said. "They will either die or the delay of care to get to a hospital for emergency care will impact their function."
Healey said Monday that she cannot stop the closure of Carney or Nashoba, and emphasized her administration's focus on saving Steward's remaining six hospitals in Massachusetts that did receive qualified bids during the bankruptcy proceeding.
Eldridge said he wants the Healey administration to enforce the 120-day notice requirement in an effort to keep Nashoba and potentially find a new owner.
"I don't want to say any unrealistic expectations, but we have heard from Ayer town officials that there are legitimate buyers," Eldridge said. "We don't know who they are. If we can have 120 days, I am hopeful that that could secure the permanency of Nashoba Valley Medical Center."
Elaine Graves, a nurse who's worked at the Carney for 48 years, said it's been a "really sad week," with staff coming together to shed tears over the fate of the hospital.
"We also have a rainy day fund and if you're not going to use it for health care, for your residents, what are you going to use it for? A sports stadium?" Graves said, an apparent reference to lawmakers potentially paving the way for a professional soccer stadium in Everett through an economic development bill that's being negotiated.
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