When Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer was about to close in the summer of 2024, Dickson said he was looking into every opportunity possible to support the region left without its most central hospital. Just nine months after the hospital’s closure, UMass Memorial announced it would open up a satellite emergency facility in Groton to help meet the healthcare needs of those in Nashoba Valley.
Knowing the harmful effects of the interconnected issues of long emergency room wait times and patients stuck in the emergency department waiting to enter a step-down level of care, Dickson initiated the development of UMass Memorial’s North Pavilion facility. The $220-million, 72-bed acute care facility opened in January, increasing the system’s bed capacity by 8.8% across 73,000 square feet with an additional 13,600 square feet of shell space.
Since its opening, the system has already begun to experience lowered ER wait times and improved employee morale.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
