Opponents of Steward hospital closures rally at State House

BOSTON — In a month, if all goes according to plan, Massachusetts will have two fewer hospitals. That plan, announced by bankrupt Steward Health Care last week, has both Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center (NVMC) closing on or around August 31st.

Steward is selling all nine of its Massachusetts hospitals — and reportedly has buyers for six of them. But the Dallas-based company said no qualifying bids came in for Carney or NVMC — thus the plan to shut them down.

But, in what seemed an over-my-dead-body move, about a hundred healthcare workers, legislators, and activists rallied at the State House Wednesday, to ask Governor Maura Healey to declare a public health emergency over the closures.

The group also wants Healey to enforce a Department of Public Health rule that requires a 120-day notice of planned hospital closures and to tap into the state’s Rainy Day fund to give potential suitors of Carney and NVMC more time to pull a deal together.

“We were told there were buyers that were interested but they just needed a little bit of support,” said Michelle Marceau, a nurse at Nashoba Valley. “We’re hoping we can sway opinion and wait a little longer and get a buyer — and maybe a little support from Governor Healey and keep our community hospital open.”

“I think the state should provide some money for bridge funding,” said State Sen. Jamie Eldridge of Marlborough. “Not necessarily buy the hospitals, but to keep those hospitals open while negotiations continue.”

Eldridge worries closing Nashoba Valley would endanger patients in need of emergency care.

“If this hospital closes, a five-minute trip to the emergency room suddenly becomes 25 minutes to a hospital in Worcester, to Lowell, to Leominster,” he said. “And that’s unacceptable for the constituents I represent.”

At the rally, workers from Nashoba Valley say they were blindsided by news of the closures.

“The whole time we were going through this process, we were told it was gonna be okay, there would be no closure,” said Nashoba Nurse Michelle Marceau. “This was just like walking into a brick wall. We were just stunned. We couldn’t believe this.”

Nashoba Nurse Naomi Andrews said the closure affects 17 communities and could collapse the 9-1-1 system in the region. She favors the state dipping into its reserves to somehow allow a deal to come together.

“We are trying to let Maura Healey know she needs to take care of all her constituents,” Andrews said. “She has a nine billion dollar — with a b, billion rainy day fund. And it’s frickin’ pouring right now.”

Katie Murphy, RN, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said closing two hospitals will only add to the stress the Massachusetts healthcare system is already experiencing.

“Every hospital has patients sitting in the emergency department, even falling out into the ambulance bays because there are no beds in the hospital,” Murphy said. “How can we close two hospitals and lose those inpatient beds?”

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