Gov. Maura Healey is halting her plans to close a Cape Cod psychiatric hospital and a Canton children’s rehab hospital after hearing “directly” from community members about how important the facilities are.
Thousands of concerned stakeholders sounded the alarm immediately after Healey proposed to close Pocasset Mental Health Center in Bourne and Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children in Canton to save money in the state budget.
Patients, families and staffers are scheduled to gather at the State House Tuesday morning for a rally and meeting with lawmakers to highlight the services provided at the state-owned hospitals and why they are essential.
The events will be met with some relief at least for now after Healey announced Monday evening that she has frozen her plans.
“I’m deeply grateful for (the community’s) feedback,” the governor said in a statement just before 6:30 p.m., “as well as for the hard work of our teams at the Department of Public Health and Department of Mental Health, who are focused on ensuring that all patients receive the high-quality, modernized, specialized care they need and deserve.
“At this time,” she continued, “I’ve directed them to pause their plans to close Pappas and Pocasset so that we can bring together a diverse group of stakeholders – including patients, families, labor, local officials, and medical professionals– to conduct a further review of the care offered at these facilities and make recommendations on the best path forward to ensure we are providing the highest quality of care with the resources at hand.”
Healey proposed consolidating the hospitals to save a projected $31 million in her $62 billion budget request for the next fiscal year — a 7.4% increase over current spending that the governor has described as “balanced” and “fiscally responsible.”
The Healey administration had emphasized how the governor wouldn’t need legislative approval to close the hospitals — a decision that would jeopardize at least 281 state jobs.
Pocasset is a 16-bed inpatient acute mental health stabilization center that offers treatment to patients at least 19 years old.
Pappas is a 60-bed rehab hospital serving 36 patients who range in age from 7 to 22 and have physical and cognitive disabilities, as well as chronic and medically complex conditions requiring hospital-level care.
If Pappas shuts down, the plan would transfer services from Canton to Western Massachusetts Hospital, more than 100 miles away, in Westfield.