Skip to main content

Losing our hospital...what it means to a small community like ours



Can you imagine being homeless and/or extremely low-income, and finding out that the wonderful neighborhood hospital you've relied on -- because you can walk there -- is closing thanks to the insatiable greed of a CEO and his investors?  Steward Health Care System's leader, Ralph de la Torre, sold the land right out from under the hospital (among other things) and the hospital is bankrupt.  And it's closing.  de la Torre is under federal investigation, and a subpoena has been issued, but whether or not he will comply or rather decide to sit smugly on the $40 million yacht he purchased with his bonuses as the Steward hospitals went bankrupt in non extraditable waters remains to be seen.


The nearby medical buildings where many of our favorite doctors, including primary care, cardiologists, endocrinologists, orthopedic surgeons, ophthalmologists, gynecologists, and many more has been spared, but how many of these fine doctors can continue to practice here in the middle of a healthcare dessert without access to the hospital?  That's what brought them to set up their practice here in the first place.  The next closest hospital to us is 30 minutes away by ambulance, plus the time it takes the ambulance to get to you.  As one nurse pointed out, that's 25 minutes too long for many people.  

Our governor claims that there is nothing she can do.  As a community, we don't accept that.  Governor Maura Healey needs to work on this a little harder and a lot faster. Here are her phone numbers so you can tell her that if you are so inclined:
(888) 870-7770
(617) 725-4005

Comments