The Healey administration announced progress in the process of taking over six hospital campuses held in bankruptcy Steward Health Care Friday night, on the eve of the closing of two other steward facilities in Massachusetts.
The communities of Ayer and Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood braced for what could be “chaos” as their local hospitals were unable to save. But as the last night moves in Nashoba Valley Medical Center and Carney Hospital Governor Maura Healey announced that Steward has reached an agreement to transfer the operations of St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton to Boston Medical Center and that BMC signed an agreement to purchase Brockton’s Good Samaritan Hospital.
That’s in addition to similar agreements signed Thursday to transfer both Holy Family Hospital sites, in Lawrence and Methuen, to Lawrence General Hospital, as well as Fall River’s Saint Anne’s Hospital and Taunton’s Morton Hospital to Lifespan.
“We will continue with our plans to take over St. Elizabeth’s in order to keep this hospital open,” Healey said in a statement, adding that her administration recognizes “the pain and concern caused by Steward’s closure of the Nashoba and Carney Valleys and we want to reassure their communities and employees that we are doing everything we can to support them in this transition.”
The deals are pending approval from a bankruptcy hearing in federal court on Wednesday, officials said.
“We’re going to have chaos,” Ayer Select Board member Jannice Livingston said on the eve of the closing of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. It is set to close its doors Saturday, along with another Steward Health Care facility, Carney Hospital in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood — unable to be saved amid Steward’s bankruptcy crisis.
For local residents and hospital staff at Carney Hospital, the 7am closure is the end of a very sad saga – one Mary Ann Rockett has already lived through.
Steward Health Care closed Quincy Hospital in 2020 and sent Mary Ann to Carney shortly after. Now it’s on to the next stop.
“When you get to some of the bigger facilities, they just have so much. They don’t have quite the same personalized care,” Rockett said, “we’ll see what happens at Good Samaritan. It’s a bigger hospital than Carney.”
But Dorchester benefits from other hospitals and resources around it. In the more rural area around Ayer, Nashoba Valley Medical Center is an oasis in the healthcare desert.
“We’re going to have chaos,” said Ayer Select board member Jannice Livingston. “There are so many people who don’t realize the hospital is closing.
As both communities try to plan next steps, local leaders say they are working hard to find a solution.
“We’re going to make sure that something else comes in here and opens up that offers health care services,” said Boston City Councilman 3 John Fitzgerald.
“I don’t want to give anybody false hope, but there are rumors that something might change after this weekend,” Sen. Jamie Eldridge said, referring to Nashoba Valley Medical Center.
Meanwhile, an ambulance will be stationed at both health facilities for the next seven days to attend to anyone unaware of the closures.
Two Steward Health Care hospitals will close soon, impacting patients and families.
Healey’s office described the ambulance’s presence earlier Friday, along with other steps to ease the pain of patients, area residents and workers, and that the Health and Human Services Executive is in talks with UMass Memorial Health and other providers around the Nashoba Valley. “to reshape the future of care at the Nashoba Valley Medical Center campus.”
“UMass Memorial Health is considering alternative options, such as converting the hospital’s emergency room to an urgent care facility,” Healey’s office said. “While these discussions are in the early stages, collaboration with UMass will continue to provide residents with alternative health care options.”
The State House News Service contributed to this report.