Norwood residents beg state to work toward reopening vacant hospital

NORWOOD, Mass. — Norwood residents and town officials pleaded with the state Monday to work toward reopening Norwood Hospital more than four years after a flash flood took out the facility.

The Department of Public Health held a public comment meeting two weeks after Steward Health Care moved in court to abandon the under-construction facility amid the company’s bankruptcy filings.

“Can you please help us?” asked resident Helen Donohue. “You have the power. We don’t.”

“We need our Norwood hospital desperately, folks,” Allan Howard said to DPH’s three representatives.

On Nov. 5, when its state license expires, Norwood Hospital will officially close, along with its four currently operating clinics, which provide cancer treatments, imaging, therapies and various other services.

A few dozen attended Monday’s meeting, imploring the state to do everything in its power to restore the important community resource under a new hospital operator.

“I’ve lost my oncologist, my radiologist, my primary care doctor, my eye doctor,” said Toni Eosco who underwent cancer treatment within the Norwood Hospital network. “My father who’s 97 lost his doctor. We have all new doctors who don’t know us.”

The hospital was demolished after the 2020 damage, but reconstruction has been slow and uncertain during Steward’s financial troubles.

Norwood Hospital employees spoke of the anxiety for their patients currently receiving critical services at its clinics in Norwood and Foxborough.

“We have chemotherapy patients who are just finding out now they have to transfer their care elsewhere,” an emotional Kathy Tomasello said. “We have panicked patients coming in, asking advice as to where they should go for their mammograms.”

Octavio Diaz, president of Steward’s North region, told community members he, too, is upset by the closure.

“I share your grief and frustration over the loss of Norwood Hospital and its impact,” Diaz said. “And although the hospital has been closed for more than four years, I realize that several clinics in the area are serving the public. We are now tasked with ensuring the safe transition of patients who use these clinics for their health care as well as providing support for our employees seeking work.”

DPH told attendees they would not be answering questions during the meeting but taking their comments into consideration as the agency reviews Steward’s closure plan.

A virtual public comment hearing is also scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. The phone number for the meeting is 800-593-9954, with the passcode 3281952.

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