Healey outlines plans to help communities when 2 Massachusetts hospitals close this weekend

BOSTON — With Steward Health Care’s planned closures of Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer on Saturday, Gov. Maura Healey on Friday outlined steps the state is taking to support impacted communities and hospital staff.

The state has made available capital funding to support health care in impacted regions, has expanded ambulance availability, has held job fairs, and has opened a call center to mitigate the impact of the hospital closures, Healey said in a statement.

“We’ve heard the concerns raised by the communities and staff impacted by Steward’s plans to close Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center. We share their frustration – Massachusetts communities should never have been put in this position,” Healey said. “Our teams have been preparing for this, and we will ensure that residents continue to have access to high-quality medical care and that all staff is connected to new employment opportunities at other facilities.”

Patients, employees, and community members can access information about the closure of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center and available resources at the state’s website.

People may also call the state’s Steward Health Care Call Center at 617-468-2189 or 833-305-2070 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays.

The Department of Public Health is opening applications for towns to apply for capital investments to acquire and upgrade ambulances and emergency medical vehicles, emergency medical equipment, life support devices, maintenance equipment, and other capital equipment associated with municipally-owned ambulance and emergency medical vehicles, Healey said.

Eligible towns include Ayer, Devens, Groton, Harvard, Littleton, Pepperell, Shirley, and Townsend.

“We understand the uncertainty so many are feeling as these trusted institutions wind down operations and care for their final few patients,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said in a statement. “This transition is emotional and unsettling for patients, employees, and communities, and our goal is to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible. We remain committed to preserving access to essential medical services and securing jobs for those affected by these closures.”

There are ongoing discussions between the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and UMass Memorial Health and other providers in the region “with the goal of reimagining future care on the Nashoba Valley Medical Center campus,” state officials said.

UMass Memorial Health is considering alternative possibilities, such as converting the hospital’s emergency room into an urgent care facility, state officials said.

“While these discussions are in the early stages, there will be continued collaboration with UMass to attempt to provide an alternative healthcare option for residents,” Healey said in her statement.

To help ease the transition to new providers and new employers, DPH stood up its Incident Command system in early May. Meetings have been held daily to plan for potential scenarios, including the possibility of hospital closures, officials said.

Healey said the actions that the state is taking – or will take – to support the impacted communities include:

· Supporting the preservation and relocation of primary care practices, and some specialty care, and other services in the medical office buildings on the Carney and Nashoba Valley campuses;

· Working with emergency medical services, local fire chiefs, and ambulance companies to address the impact of closures on transport time and emergency vehicle availability;

· Organizing stand-by ambulances at both hospitals 24/7 for seven days following closure to triage and transport any patients who arrive at the emergency departments;

· Working with the Executive Office of Veterans Services and the VA system to transition care of veterans who had received care at Nashoba Valley and Carney;

· Continuing to work to identify and communicate transportation options for patients who will need to travel to new hospitals, offices, and other health care facilities;

· Working with the Department of Mental Health to support the opening of geriatric psychiatry beds at Good Samaritan Medical Center to offset the loss of beds at Carney and Nashoba Valley;

· Facilitating the transfer of medical residents from Carney to other hospitals where they can continue their training;

· Protecting ongoing access for patients to their medical records, imaging studies, and other vital health and medical information;

· Supporting the Community Care Pharmacy, which had been in the Carney Hospital lobby, as it seeks to relocate to a new site in the Dorchester community;

· Creating resources for patients, families, and communities, including a dedicated Steward Transition website, a call center, an interactive urgent care center map, and an interactive hospital capacity dashboard.

“The closure of a hospital is a devastating blow to a community, and in this case, the speed at which the process unfolded has added a further layer of disruption for so many residents,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh said in a statement.

“As Steward runs away from its obligations in these communities, we are running toward them to do what is needed to maintain access to essential medical care for patients and support the dedicated employees who have been delivering extraordinary care during this difficult time,” Walsh said. “We stand with these communities as we all move through this transition.”

State officials have also been meeting with staff at the two facilities for several weeks, officials said.

The MassHire Rapid Response team “has been onsite at Nashoba Valley and Carney to provide hundreds of workers with job services,” officials said.

Those job services include one-on-one and group meetings to explain unemployment insurance processes, to share job leads, and to discuss job placement and job search workshops, officials said.

Rapid Response held four job fairs at both hospitals recently. There were 55 health care employers at the fairs with job openings ranging from administrative positions to registered nursing positions, officials said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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