‘We’re not going to give up’: State, local officials continue criticism of Steward after company announces plan to close hospitals

One day after officials gathered outside Carney Hospital in Dorchester, state and local leaders were in Ayer Tuesday to protest Steward Health Care’s planned closure of both Carney and Nashoba Valley Medical Center.

With the clock ticking on both facilities, State Sen. Jamie Eldridge called on Gov. Maura Healey to take additional action and said supporters of the hospital will continue to rally to save it. 

“We’re not going to give up,” he said. “…We’re going to keep fighting not only to prevent the closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center, but also to maintain the quality of health care in this region.”

Steward, which operates eight hospitals in Massachusetts, announced plans last week to close Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer after it said it could not find buyers for either facility. Steward said it was in active talks to sell its six remaining hospitals as part of ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

Eldridge represents Ayer and some surrounding communities. Already a critic of Steward, he further criticized the company on Tuesday.

“I want to condemn the practices of Steward,” he said. “I want to lift up the fact that we have a broken health care system which, very sadly and despicably, Steward Health Care has taken advantage of.” 

Steward has faced mounting scrutiny in recent months as significant financial struggles have come to light. 

Following Steward’s announcement last Friday that it plans to close Carney and Nashoba Valley, officials including Eldridge have urged state officials to enforce a law that requires hospitals notify state regulators at least 120 days before a proposed hospital closure. 

“There is still more to be done at the state level,” Eldridge said. “There is still action that we can take.”

“Governor Healey needs to issue this statement today,” he continued. 

Even with the 120-day notice requirement, though, Nashoba Valley could still close within a matter of months. Gathered in Ayer, public officials said closing the hospital is not an option. 

“The stakes are too high,” said Town Manager Robert Pontbriand. “And we are on a critical threshold where anything shy of staying open is not acceptable.”

With fears of increased emergency response times and emergency room backlogs in mind, officials including Eldridge focused on hopes that a last-minute buyer will emerge to save Nashoba Valley. 

While there were no specific or public bids as of Tuesday, Eldridge said  “there have been conversations about the possibility of finding a buyer to keep Nashoba Valley Medical Center open.”

Eldridge said state authorities need to engage with potential buyers to bring a deal to fruition. If and when such a deal comes, Pontbriand said, the community will need state and federal authorities to work with Healey to “get some financial support to make that happen.”

Carney Hospital dates back to 1863. Nashoba Valley was founded in 1964 and still serves as a “critical public health facility” in its area, according to Pontbriand. 

Pontbriand said the hospital is also one of Ayer’s largest employers.

“There is no health care facility like Nashoba in the Nashoba Valley,” he said. 

While patients worry about their care, while employees fear for their jobs, and while public officials eye public health ramifications of hospital closures in Ayer and Dorchester, officials including Fitchburg Mayor Sam Squailia have placed Steward’s crisis in greater context. 

“When are we going to realize that our for profit driven health care system is killing us?” Squailia said Tuesday. 

Squailia described shrinking services at Fitchburg’s Burbank Hospital over several years, saying “They gutted us until it was gone.”

She then noted last year’s closure of the maternity ward at HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital in Leominster. 

As health care options whither, Squailia said remaining facilities in central Massachusetts, including Nashoba Valley, have shouldered an increased burden. Nashoba Valley’s now looming closure, Squailia said, “is going to have ripple effects.”

“This has got to stop,” Squailia said.

“Our state has to figure it out and the federal government has to overhaul our health care system,” she added.

Healey last week responded quickly to Steward’s plans to close Carney and Nashoba Valley, writing in an initial statement “This is not over.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday, though, she said she lacks the authority to keep Carney and Nashoba Valley open. 

“Unfortunately there is nothing that I can do to stop the closure of the two hospitals in particular that Steward has announced it’s closing,” she said, according to the State House News Service, before reiterating criticism of Steward and its CEO, Ralph de la Torre.

“It’s terribly distressing, I understand that, when a hospital in your community closes,” Healey said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the power or the lever to stop that. That’s a decision that Steward makes.”

Healey said her office is still working to save Steward’s other hospitals and called on leaders to “step up and act.” 

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from Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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