The petitions call on the Governor, the Attorney General
and other state leaders to "step up and use their resources" to
save Steward-owned Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and Nashoba Valley Medical
Center in Ayer
This event is occurring at the same time communities served
by all nine hospitals impacted by the Steward crisis are seeking
state and federal action to protect these vital healthcare
providers and as the court overseeing the bankruptcy of Steward is
set on Monday to receive bids on potential buyers of the
Steward-owned hospitals in Massachusetts
What:
|
Press Conference to Send Off Delegation to State
House, With Statements by Advocates
|
When:
|
Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 10
a.m.
|
Where:
|
Zins Park, located at the corner of Groveland St. and
Kataris Drive, across from Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill's
emergency department. The press conference will also be
livestreamed on the MNA Facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/massnurses.
|
Additional Details of Event: Speakers will gather at
10 a.m. to deliver remarks in
Haverhill. When concluded, a small delegation will drive to
the State House. Once at the State House, the delegation will
head to the Governor's office to deliver the petition.
Editor's Note: Julio Mejia,
one of the organizers of the event with the Merrimack Valley
Project will be at the Hooker Entrance to the State House to greet
the delegation and escort them to the Governor's office.
Interested reporters at the State House can text or call Julio at
978-601-1596 to learn the delegation's exact time of arrival,
follow the delegation to the Governor's office and conduct
interviews with participants.
AYER,
Mass., June 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On
Thursday, June 20th, a delegation of
concerned community members, advocates, caregivers, business owners
and former patients will gather at a small park near Holy Family
Hospital in Haverhill to host a
press conference to send off a delegation headed to the State House
armed with petitions signed by residents of Haverhill and Ayer, which will be
delivered to the office of Governor Maura
Healey. The strongly worded petitions highlight the
importance of these facilities and "demand leadership from our
state officials" and specifically call upon the "Governor, Attorney
General and Legislature to step up and use their power to save our
hospital." The full text of the Holy Family Hospital Petition
can be found here; and the Nashoba Valley Medical Center petition,
here.
Efforts in Haverhill and
Ayer Signal Effort by Communities to Rally Behind Their
Hospitals
The petitions were launched by the Merrimack Valley Project, a
community-based coalition of advocates in the region, who are also
members of the Our Community Our Hospital coalition, compromised of
residents, caregivers, health, labor and faith-based organizations
throughout Eastern Mass who have hosted a number of events in
all the communities impacted by the Steward crisis, calling for
concerted action by all stakeholders to ensure that none of these
facilities are lost and that the state act aggressively to take
whatever steps are needed to preserve these facilities for the
health of the communities they serve.
The campaigns in Haverhill and
Ayer took on heightened urgency in
the wake of unsubstantiated reports that the hospitals serving
those communities might be considered expendable should the pending
bankruptcy process fail to yield a viable suitor to take over the
facilities. After a presentation by community members
organized by the Merrimack Valley Project before the Haverhill City
Council last month, the Council cast a unanimous vote to send a
letter to the Governor highlighting the dire need to save its
hospital for the care of the community, as well as the impact of
its loss on neighboring facilities.
As stated in the letter by Haverhill City Council President
Thomas J. Sullivan, "Haverhill is home to almost 70,000 residents
who need and deserve medical care close to homeā¦.As a community
with many low-to-middle income, racially diverse residents, our
population is vulnerable to poor health conditions, and we want to
ensure that our residents can continue to receive the care they
need and deserve locally. Our residents should not have to
defer medical care or travel further than necessary to access
affordable and high quality health care. Staff from the
Haverhill campus cited one example
of the importance of having a hospital in Haverhill, namely heart attack victims, in
which seconds count to receive emergency medical care. Travel
time makes all the difference between life and death, especially
those who suffer traumatic injuries and those with long term
disease. Holy Family Hospital receives approximately 20,000
emergency room visits per year. Our neighboring hospitals
cannot manage the volume of emergency visits as it is today.
The thought of 20,000 additional people going to area hospitals
already over capacity is disturbing to say the least and
unacceptable."
In a call to action by the Governor, the City Council "implores
you and your administration to do everything in your power to keep
Holy Family Haverhill open," and states that "Haverhill and surrounding communities are
counting on you to do the right thing."
The full text of the Haverhill City Council letter can be seen
here. Mayor Melinda Barrett sent her
own letter to the Governor with a similar message last month, which
can be viewed here.
The residents, advocates and caregivers in Ayer are equally concerned about the fate of
their hospital, highlighted by a press conference held earlier this
month when a coalition of local EMTs/firefighters and caregivers
who serve and/or work at Nashoba Valley Medical Center, where they
too called on leaders of our state government to do whatever is
necessary to preserve this hospital, as well as eight other
hospitals threatened with closure by the Steward crisis.
The press conference was organized and will be jointly hosted by
David Greenwood, President of the
International Association of Firefighters Local 2544 Ayer Fire
Department and Audra Sprague, RN,
co-chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association's Local Bargaining
Unit for the nurses of Nashoba Valley Medical Center.
"This hospital closure will significantly impact the local
community and area's public safety. Over 80 percent of the
emergency medical calls transported by the Ayer Firefighters and
Paramedics go to Nashoba Valley Medical Center," Greenwood
said. "The closure of this hospital would negatively impact
public safety and the general health and wellbeing of the
surrounding communities. Emergency ambulances used to
transport will be out of service for longer, increasing the
likelihood that someone else needing an ambulance will have to wait
much longer. Traveling longer distances to alternative
hospitals that are already overcrowded serves no benefit to the
community or public health. That is why the firefighters and
EMTs of the Nashoba Valley communities are speaking out to support
keeping Nashoba Valley Medical Center open."
According to Sprague, the nurses and other dedicated caregivers
who provide care to patients at NVMC, many for decades, are
committed to doing everything in their power to ensure the most
vulnerable in their community have access to the care they need
within their own community.
"No community is expendable; no community is less important than
another. All of our communities are worth fighting for,"
Sprague said. "The hospitals' staffs have held firm and
remain inspiringly committed to meeting the health needs of our
communities, and it will take all facets of state government,
Attorney General Campbell, Speaker of the House Mariano, Senate
President Spilka and Governor Healey to navigate this unprecedented
health care crisis, to ensure that needed resources are made
available to allow these hospitals to continue providing
desperately needed health care to all those affected by this
crisis."
As part of the nurses' efforts to influence state action, the
Massachusetts Nurses Association has issued a number of
recommendations for specific actions the state might employ in the
event some hospitals fail to attract a viable bidder at the end of
the ensuing bankruptcy process including:
- The State Government could allocate funding to facilitate deals
for potential bidders, while also using its power to leverage
Medical Properties Trust and Macquarie, two real estate investment
trusts which hold the leases to these Massachusetts properties, to reduce onerous
rents that may prevent a sale.
- State leaders could use the state's power to encourage the
state's other hospital operators to take responsibility for each of
the nine hospitals. Right now the state is approving the addition
of hundreds of beds for the state's most expensive and profitable
providers, while the other communities are threatened with the loss
of all beds and services, including emergency services.
- Greater transparency from the state is needed on all the
efforts to ensure a safe future for each of the hospitals as
full-service hospitals. Any changes in services currently in effect
should only be implemented after a comprehensive assessment by the
state that assures communities, particularly those
disproportionately impacted, are not subject to further loss of
health care access and that any proposed change must be made in
full compliance with Massachusetts
health care laws, which requires 120 days' notice and the ability
for the public to be heard. This time and process should be
utilized by the State to assist other appropriate entities to
assume control of the hospital and ensure services are not lost to
these communities.
- And finally, the state, in support of local municipalities,
should be prepared, if there are no bidders for a given hospital,
to consider the prospect of seizing the property by eminent domain
and to contract with a provider to continue to operate the facility
until a permanent operator is found.
More than 200,000 residents from the Merrimack Valley to the
South Coast are served by nine hospitals currently owned by Steward
Healthcare including: St. Elizabeth's in Brighton, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in
Brockton, Holy Family Hospital in
Methuen and Haverhill Hospital in
Haverhill, Morton Hospital in
Taunton, Nashoba Valley Medical
Center in Ayer, Norwood Hospital
in Norwood, and St. Anne's
Hospital in Fall River. These
hospitals are among the largest employers in our communities, with
more than 16,000 workers and caregivers, who not only safeguard
care, but also contribute to the economic health of our small
businesses, cities, and towns.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/community-members-and-advocates-caregivers-and-former-patients-to-host-june-20th-press-conference-to-send-off-a-delegation-delivering-petitions-signed-by-residents-of-haverhill-and-ayer-to-the-office-of-governor-maura-healey-302176862.html
SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association