AYER — Caregivers and firefighters who serve at Nashoba Valley Medical Heart referred to as on state officers Monday to decide to the preservation of their hospital, and all different hospitals in Massachusetts being affected by the Steward Health Care chapter disaster.
Ayer Fireplace Division Native 2544 President David Greenwood mentioned his division depends upon Nashoba Valley Medical Heart to carry out lots of its duties.
“Although the future of Nashoba is uncertain at this point, one thing is certain to this area, and it is the fact that public safety organizations around here depend on this hospital,” mentioned Greenwood. “It is a critical piece of infrastructure for public health out this way. If the hospital were to close, it would have detrimental impacts to public safety in this area.”
The world lined by NVMC is a typically rural space, Greenwood identified, and in contrast to locations like Boston, choices for emergency medical therapy are restricted.
“It causes us to have negative impacts on our response times, turnaround times, it takes us out of service for longer. We don’t have the staffing to do this,” mentioned Greenwood.
Audra Sprague has been an emergency room nurse at NVMC for almost 17 years. She mentioned throughout the press convention that the nurses and people who can be affected by the hospital’s closure are calling on Gov. Maura Healey and the remainder of the state authorities “to honor the promises she made to the residents of Massachusetts on May 6.”
“The closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center, and any of Steward’s eight other hospitals, would create a void that cannot be filled in this state,” mentioned Sprague.
Along with NVMC, Steward owns St. Elizabeth’s Medical Heart in Brighton, Good Samaritan Medical Heart in Brockton, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Morton Hospital in Taunton, St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River and Holy Household Hospital in each Haverhill and Methuen. After months of questions over the corporate’s monetary future, Steward Health Care filed for chapter in a Texas courtroom final month, and it now intends to dump all 32 of its hospitals nationwide this summer season. What occurs to the operations at these hospitals when these gross sales happen has not been made clear to these working in them.
Indicators of bother with Steward started to floor in January when it turned public that the corporate was behind on its money owed and was going through a number of lawsuits from the house owners of the land the hospitals sit on.
Sprague mentioned the closure of NVMC would trigger sufferers within the space needing emergency care to should journey additional, and for longer, to a medical facility that may present care. In medical emergencies, that additional time issues.
“For a patient experiencing a stroke or a heart attack, every lost minute can mean a permanent loss of heart and brain function that can impact their lives for the remainder of their time,” mentioned Sprague. “We are a small hospital, but we are a good hospital, and we are essential to this community and the surrounding communities.”
Massachusetts Nurses Affiliation President Katie Murphy mentioned the eight Massachusetts hospitals going through uncertainty are being threatened with closure as a result of “mismanagement and corporate greed” of Steward Health Care.
“From this vantage point I can tell you, there is no justification for the loss of any bed or any service in Massachusetts at this time, and certainly no justification of those currently owned by Steward,” mentioned Murphy. “The loss of any of these hospitals would be catastrophic, not only for the communities served by these facilities, but for all the hospitals and communities left to absorb the collateral damage of our state’s failure to protect the residents of the commonwealth.”
Murphy referred to as for the Healey administration, Massachusetts Lawyer Basic Andrea Campbell and the state Legislature to be “pushing any and all levers of government power at their disposal to save these hospitals.”
Merrimack Valley Challenge President Paul Gaudet, who represents Lowell’s St. Patrick Parish on the group’s board, mentioned that dropping NVMC and the opposite Steward hospitals is “not an option.”
“We must impress upon the governor, especially, to use her power to save this hospital. We will not be satisfied by the laments and hand wringing by those who could protect our hospital, our access to health care, and the livelihood of so many area professionals, support staff and other area businesses,” mentioned Gaudet. “This community is being threatened with the theft of a hospital. We call upon political leaders to stop the thieves as they head to the exits.”
A spokesperson from the state’s Government Workplace of Health and Human Companies mentioned in a press release Monday night that the state is working to keep up the prevailing well being care ecosystem in Massachusetts.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is committed to preserving access to safe and high-quality care for all individuals and communities now served by Steward hospitals,” mentioned the EOHHS spokesperson. “We are working to protect jobs for the dedicated health care providers and support staff who come to work in the Steward hospitals every day for the patients they serve, with the goal of maintaining the stability of the health care ecosystem that has long defined Massachusetts as a leader in health and medicine.”
