DEVENS — Dozens of residents, elected officials, first responders and hospital staff sounded off on Steward Health Care and Gov. Maura Healey in a public hearing by the state Department of Public Health regarding the impending closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center.
The ballroom in Devens Common was packed with a loud and animated crowd for the hearing Thursday with the inevitable impacts from the Aug. 31 closure date for the 60-year-old hospital on everybody’s minds. One by one, the many stakeholders concerned about the future of the hospital, and of health care in their community, got up to speak with a common theme throughout: the condemnation of Steward Health Care for its role in the hospital closures, and also of Healey for what many speakers said has been inaction by the state in a dire situation.
Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein called the situation “undeserved, unwarranted and unfair,” though he emphasized that the DPH lacks the authority to prevent NVMC’s closure.
“We cannot force a hospital to stay open, especially if doing so might affect quality of care, or the safety of the patients,” said Goldstein.
Tempers seemed to flare quickly from members of the audience when Steward’s North Region President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Octavio Diaz addressed the crowd after Goldstein. As he spoke, he faced relentless boos, heckling and jeers from the audience, consisting largely of residents and hospital staff.
“Closing a hospital is painful, and nothing I can say tonight will make that any easier. But the decision has been made, and now we must move forward while keeping our patients safe,” said Diaz, which drew a loud negative reaction from the audience. “While closing Nashoba Valley Medical Center is deeply regrettable, it is also unavoidable.”
Following Diaz were members of the affected areas’ delegation to the Legislature, including state Sens. John Cronin and Jamie Eldridge, and state Reps. Margaret Scarsdale, Natalie Higgins and Dan Sena, all of whom expressed frustration towards both Steward and the state’s executive branch.
“The harm that is going to occur to this community is easy to predict, it is easy to quantify, and it is easy to blame Ralph de la Torre and Steward,” said Cronin. “But tonight we need to talk about what the Legislature, what the governor, what the Department of Public Health are going to be able to do.”
Cronin, in a sentiment echoed by many of the other speakers, said he had just one request of the powers that be.
“Go find us a new operator,” Cronin said to heavy applause. “Come back to us with a number, what it is going to cost the state to keep this facility open and make us do our jobs.”
From the first responder side of things, Pepperell Fire Chief Brian Borneman said it came to him as a shock when he learned with the rest of the world that NVMC and Carney Hospital in Dorchester would be closing. He said this issue has been practically the only thing he has dealt with since then.
“This hospital means so much to Nashoba Valley and beyond,” said Borneman. “As fire chief of Pepperell, to say that I have grave concerns is an understatement.”
Audra Sprague, a registered nurse at NVMC who has been a leading voice among nurses in the Steward crisis, called out the state for “the decision to allow it to happen.”
“These are the people that are making the decisions, all behind closed doors with no transparency whatsoever, and we are all just supposed to accept it,” said Sprague. “We should not have to be the ones to stand here and justify the need for a hospital, and why it is so vital, and why closing it will endanger every single person in this room. We should not have to tell the Department of Public Health why, they should be telling us why.”
In a statement Thursday before the DPH hearing, Healey demanded for Steward to give severance pay to the workers at NVMC and Carney as part of the sales for the other hospitals.
“The nurses, health workers and staff at Carney and Nashoba have been the heart and soul of these hospitals and communities, working day after day to provide care and comfort to patients in need,” said Healey. “Steward must keep its commitments and make good on all severance payments to these workers as part of any Massachusetts sales. We are insisting on worker severance in our negotiations and will insist on severance funding to the Bankruptcy Court if that’s what it takes.”
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