The Holy Household Hospital group at campuses in Haverhill and Methuen gathered Tuesday to rejoice their finalized sale to the nonprofit well being care system Lawrence Normal Hospital — and their escape from the continued monetary disaster stoked by former proprietor Steward Health.
“Just a few months ago, we were on the brink of losing Holy Family Hospital, its facilities, the care it provides, the jobs it sustains and the economic benefits it creates,” stated Abha Agrawal, President and CEO of Lawrence Normal Hospital, on the Haverhill campus ribbon reducing ceremony Tuesday.
“The path from this potential disaster of losing care in the valley to the promise of a stable healthcare system has been neither easy nor inexpensive, but we have prevailed because so many people believed in the value of our mission and the critical importance of keeping healthcare local,” she continued.
Lawrence Normal Hospital finalized the sale transaction of each Holy Household Hospital campuses Tuesday, protecting the hospitals open beneath new nonprofit possession.
Different Steward-run hospitals in Massachusetts haven’t fared so effectively within the firm’s chapter proceedings, which started in Could. Each Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Heart closed in August after no bidders moved to buy the hospitals.
Different offers for Steward-owned hospitals together with St. Elizabeth’s Medical Heart, Good Samaritan Medical Heart, Saint Anne’s Hospital and Morton Hospital are ongoing.
State and native politicians on Tuesday stated shedding care was not an choice for the Haverhill and Methuen communities, chatting with the combat to maintain Holy Household Hospital going.
Different hospitals within the Haverhill space are not less than half an hour away, Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett stated, emphasizing a narrative wherein a younger boy getting off a faculty bus was hit by a drunk driver and survived as a result of he was in a position to be transported to Holy Household and care rapidly.
“I will continue to advocate for Haverhill getting the emergency care that we need here, full fledged, revamped,” stated Barrett. “I know (Steward) left you with not much here, from what I gather. And we can only hope they get theirs, but I think we have ours. We have what we wanted.”
However, audio system Tuesday stated, the exhausting half for the hospital is simply starting.
Agrawal cited “tremendous challenges,” together with fixing the numerous under-investment affecting the standard of care within the amenities and rebuilding belief with the group after the high-profile Steward catastrophe.
Lawrence Normal Hospital has already initiated an “extensive integration process” throughout the hospital areas to organize for the transition.
“Our immediate goal is to stabilize clinical care, stabilize operations, and then we engage in a dialog with many stakeholders to see how we should envision the healthcare in the valley,” stated Agrawal. “The great thing, though, is we collectively are going to drive it, not a corporate owner, somewhere so remote and detached from us. So it will be whatever we all decide to make it.”