As you are aware, on June 26 Steward Health Care announced plans to close Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester by August 31 - far sooner than the Dept. of Public Health 120-day regulation.

The implications of the closure include: increased EMS response times and strain on EMS resources; longer rides to hospitals for care; increased patient numbers at hospitals from Leominster to Lowell to Emerson to Marlborough and beyond; loss of local services; and the loss of jobs for many in the region, among other considerations, including the potential for the loss of life.

On July 30, elected officials hosted a well-attended press conference about the NVMC closure at Ayer Town Hall. On July 31, concerned citizens rallied at the Massachusetts State House to protest the closures of NVMC and Carney Hospital. Several groups have already met with the State to discuss this issue, and we think it is important for the State to continue to hear from as many people and organizations as possible who are impacted by this decision in our region.

The Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce has submitted a letter imploring that the Governor and Secretary of Health & Human Services do the right thing to save Nashoba Valley Medical Center. We invite you to submit something as well. If you are not sure what to say, let the below paragraph serve as a guide:

The closure of a long-standing community hospital represents yet another significant blow to healthcare access in North Central Massachusetts. We cannot ignore the many legitimate, data-driven concerns about safety and health outcomes expressed by emergency responders, healthcare personnel, and public health officials. For many years we have observed a troubling trend of essential healthcare services vacating the Nashoba Valley region- Nashoba Valley Medical Center is not the first and is unlikely to be the last if the trend continues. We cannot keep our residents healthy without adequate resources. We cannot ensure health equity and protect public health without the necessary infrastructure to do so. Ideally, we hope that the State will work to protect public health in the Nashoba Valley and will find a way to maintain services at NVMC. At the very least, we need to get ahead of this trend of disappearing resources. We need to limit privatization in healthcare to stop for-profit entities like Steward from taking advantage of our vulnerable healthcare system- and simultaneously, we need to bolster, strengthen, and reform that system to re-center human lives over profits. Help us understand how we can be part of the solution.

Below is the contact information for our elected officials. Thank you for helping us fight for essential health services access in the Nashoba Valley region.