BOSTON — Steward Health Care plans to lay off over 1200 employees working between the two hospitals they plan to close sometime in the next month.
According to Mass.gov’s WARN report, 753 employees at Dorchester’s Carney Hospital and 490 at Ayer’s Nashoba Valley Medical Center will lose their jobs.
“The decision to close both Carney and Nashoba hospitals is one we deeply regret having to make. Steward is acutely aware of the difficulties this will impose on our dedicated and hardworking employees,” Steward Health Care Spokesperson Deborah Chiaravalloti said. ”There are more than a thousand jobs open at other Steward hospitals in Massachusetts and we are encouraging our employees to consider those positions. We are holding job fairs to facilitate transfers for our employees and will communicate more details with them shortly.”
The for-profit healthcare chain filed for bankruptcy in May and In late July, Steward announced they would be closing both the Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer after failing to find buyers for the hospitals.
On Thursday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wrote a letter to the owners of Dorchester’s Carney Hospital expressing concern over the future of the property after Steward Health Care announced its closure.
Wu demanded the property be used only for healthcare purposes or face retribution from her office.
“Our community is rightly concerned that your companies, not satisfied with the hundreds of millions in value already extracted from Steward hospitals, hope to capitalize on the closure of Carney Hospital by redeveloping the property,” the letter read. “I would like to be absolutely clear that my Administration will oppose any effort by ownership to rezone the property for uses other than the provision of health care. "
Governor Maura Healey’s office said that Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre’s business practices were “irresponsible.”
“These nurses and health care workers have come to work day after day amid all of this uncertainty and selflessly served their patients. We are prepared for this and have been working with our partners in labor to make sure all impacted workers are hired elsewhere, including at the five hospitals we intend to save. We expect they will all get new jobs, and many already have. Steward, their lenders and real estate partners need to finalize deals on the remaining hospitals immediately,” said a spokesperson with the Governor’s office.
Healey said Thursday she is pressing Steward Health Care to adhere to a state Department of Public Health regulation that hospital owners must give 120 days notice before any medical facility can close in Massachusetts.
“I’ve been clear with Steward, they need to stay open for 120 days. We need to have a smooth transition. Steward made the call to close those two hospitals,” Healey told reporters. “We have been hard at work looking to secure a deal that will ensure a smooth transition of ownership away from Steward to a responsible operator.”
The Massachusetts Nurses Association called the discussion of layoffs “premature”, citing the governor’s letter to Steward.
“Let us be clear, our focus, and the focus of community members, caregivers and a growing number of policymakers is to exhaust every avenue open to us to stop this closure,” Massachusetts Nurses Association spokesperson The Governor yesterday announced her intention to require Steward to follow the state law requiring 120 days notice prior to any closure, which will allow all parties to identify new operators for these hospitals, a process that has been made easier by the bankruptcy court’s order this week to reject existing leases on these properties, opening the door to more favorable negotiation of those leases for bidders interested in acquiring these hospitals. We have been clear that there is no justification for this or any closure of the hospitals impacted by this crisis and if that occurred thousands of patients lives would be placed in jeopardy. Before that happens, we believe the state should declare a public health emergency, and if need be, to access funds from the state’s Rainy Day fund, which now stands at $8 billion.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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