AYER — One patient described the uncertainty surrounding Nashoba Valley Medical Center as “scary,” while another was left anxious and unsure of where to see a doctor.
Those were some of the reactions from random interviews with patients at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer on Monday following news that bankrupt Steward Healthcare System plans to close Nashoba by Aug. 31. That date, set in documents Steward filed with the bankruptcy court on Friday, is a timeline that falls short of the 120-day notice requirement set by the state Department of Public Health for hospital closures.
The four-month notice period allows time for public hearings to be held and for the state to determine whether the hospital is an essential service to the community. If the state determines it is essential, it can require the hospital owner to keep the facility open. But the state does not have the legal authority to stop the owner from closing the hospital.
Gov. Maura T. Healey acknowledged that fact Monday, saying she could not block Steward from closing two of the eight hospitals it owns in Massachusetts: Nashoba Hospital in Dorchester and Kearney Hospital. The state’s Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to inquiries about what consequences Steward would face if it went ahead with the closures before the 120-day regulatory process was completed.
Steward said in court documents that Nashoba and Kearney hospitals are in the red and ineligible to bid, but that bids have been received for six other hospitals the company owns in eastern Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, Nashoba patients who spoke to the Telegram and Gazette said they’ve relied on the hospital for decades but are wondering where they can get the care they need.
‘Disgusting’
Mark Byron has been going to Nashoba for cardiac care for 17 years. It takes him 20 minutes to get to the hospital from his home in Lunenburg, but he worries that if Steward closes Nashoba permanently, his travel time to Emerson Hospital in Concord and UMass Memorial Hospital in Leominster will double.
“It makes me so angry because the convenience of this hospital is unbelievable,” he said.
Byron had a CT scan on Monday to check for swollen lymph nodes and gets screened at Nashoba every six months to monitor possible cancer risk. He told me how he came to Nashoba 17 years ago, when he was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Boston for emergency surgery. The procedure was prepped in the air so that he could be taken to the operating room as soon as the helicopter landed. He wonders where he would be now if it hadn’t been for the staff at Nashoba that night.
Byron is hopeful that Healy will broker a sale of the hospital, and if that doesn’t happen, he worries about the future of the families who rely on Nashoba’s staff to keep them healthy.
“If people like me are forgotten, it will leave a big hole in this community,” he said.
Patients since childhood
Darcy Clements, a Nashoba patient since childhood, went in for an X-ray on Monday. During her appointment, she said her family doctor’s office affiliated with Nashoba told her it was also closing. Clements knows it won’t be easy to find another family doctor, given the national shortage of family doctors.
Clements, a Pepperell resident, showed a printout he said hospital staff gave him when he checked in. Written across the top in big block letters was “SAVE NASHOBA VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER: DON’T LET THEM CLOSE WITHOUT A FIGHT!!”
The filing, which included contact information for Healey and members of the state’s congressional delegation, as well as the Massachusetts state representative whose district includes Nashoba, called on people to tell their representatives that the hospital needs to stay open.
“It really pisses me off,” she said. “I’ve been going here since I was a little girl. I grew up in Littleton and I can’t imagine not having a hospital in our area and having to drive 45 minutes to get somewhere in an emergency. That’s a big risk.”
State lawmakers, the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Ayer city officials are scheduled to hold a press conference in Ayer on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the closure of Nashoba Hospital. They are expected to urge Governor Healey to implement a law requiring 120 days notice before a hospital closes.
I’m scared if Nashoba closes.
Tony Mariano took his wife to Nashoba Emergency Room on Monday, a 10-minute drive from their home in Pepperell.
“I’m scared,” said Mariano, who learned his wife could get sick after Nashoba was scheduled to close on Aug. 31. If that happened, he worries it could take 45 minutes to get to the nearest hospital.
“We hope a buyer will come forward to save Nashoba,” said Mariano, whose family has been cared for at Nashoba for nearly 40 years.
Image and memory
Dave Rowe was at Nashoba for an imaging appointment when he said his daughter suffered a severe head injury several years ago and received stitches there. Rowe said hospital staff were “amazing” about the care his daughter received that day, and he believes families with young children would be affected if Nashoba were to close.
Rowe says it takes her six minutes to drive to Nashoba Hospital from her Littleton home, but she worries that if Nashoba closes, her family members who live far away will have a harder time getting to another hospital.
“I really feel for the people in towns like Groton and Pepperell who rely on (Nashoba Valley Medical Center) as the closest place to go,” he said.
No taxpayer money to support stewards
William Spinazzola is one of those who doesn’t want his tax money to help finance Steward’s Massachusetts hospital while it goes through bankruptcy. Spinazzola had come to Nashoba to have his hip checked after a recent fall. He drove 15 minutes from his home in Dunstable to get an X-ray and have fluids drained.
The commonwealth of Massachusetts will reportedly spend $30 million in August to help Steward’s six hospitals stay afloat financially until they are acquired. Court records show some of the money will go to Nashoba and Kearney hospitals.
“I don’t know what the politics are when a company buys a hospital, but they should be committed to making it work for the people who use it,” Spinazzola said. “I don’t think we, the taxpayers, should be handing it over to a company until they close the hospital. I think that responsibility lies with the company.”
Spinazzola is not the only one to criticize Steward’s record running hospitals in Massachusetts.
“They siphoned a billion dollars out of hospitals to line their pockets and left a husk behind,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Monday when asked about Steward Healthcare’s plans to close Nashoba and Kearney hospitals. “This is the work of private equity. We need to work to change the laws at the federal and state levels to get private equity out of health care.”
Henry Schwan can be reached at henry.schwan@telegram.com Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.
