North County Reacts With Excitement, Cautious Optimism to Hospital News
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — There was one group that refused to give up on the North Adams Regional Hospital for years.
The North County Cares Coalition, made up of residents and former employees at the hospital, advocated at first weekly and, as time went on, every anniversary since 2014 to keep the idea of the hospital alive.
Even when no one seemed to be listening. And promises by state officials seemed to go nowhere.
News on Thursday that the hospital may reopen — albeit with far fewer beds — has them excited, but taking a "cautious optimist approach," said member Elizabeth Manns.
"The North County Cares Coalition appreciates all the effort s being made to re-establish a small hospital with 25 in patient beds by BHS," the group responded in a statement sent by Manns and Richard Dassatti on its behalf. "This is a much-needed positive step and the Coalition would be happy to work with BHS and any other interested parties to help bring this project to fruition. We look forward to hearing more from BHS on this matter over the summer."
Berkshire Health Systems announced on Thursday its decision to pursue a Critical Access Hospital designation for the North Adams campus and to restore up to 25 inpatient beds. BHS purchased the assets of the bankrupt Northern Berkshire Healthcare a few months after the hospital's closure and restored many of its services and staff.
Another coalition member, Rachel Branch, was much more enthusiastic when informed of the news. At first she didn't believe it, but when shown the article on iBerkshires, she literally jumped for joy.
"This is like prayers being answered," she said. "I'm beside myself with disbelief and joy. ...
"For me personally having lost so many family members to the illness of addiciton, this is beyond words to express."
Branch, whose great-grandfather Arthur Gallup bought the land for the hospital and funded the original building's Children's Wing, has had Northern Berkshire Community Television repeat her "Solutions Rising" series highlighting the loss of the hospital and what it cost the community on every anniversary.
She, too, though wasn't completely convinced it would happen.
"Our North County Cares Coalition will be keeping a close eye on this actually happening," she said.
The closure of the hospital and Berkshire Medical Center's standup of a satellite emergency facility on the campus meant long trips for the local ambulance service.
The turnaround time for an ambulance going to Pittsfield or Bennington, Vt., was 90 minutes to 2 hours, while transporting to North Adams kept a vehicle out of service for 15 to 20 minutes, Northern Berkshire EMS General Manager John Meaney Jr. said days before the emergency room closed.
"This is welcomed news for our community and the EMS system in Northern Berkshire County and Southern Vermont," he said on Thursday while out of town. "We look forward to working with BHS in the coming months as they transition to restoring a full service hospital."
A statement by Massachusetts Nurses Association co-Chairs at Berkshire Medical Center Alex Neary and Gerri Jakacky and North Adams campus emergency department representative Ruth O'Hearn also said the restoration was welcome news after a decade of advocacy and that they looked forward to working BHS to "ensure the re-opening process is smooth and respects the needs of patients, nurses, and all caregivers.”
"As nurses, we are thrilled that our patients will have better access to essential inpatient care closer to their homes. We have joined with the North County Cares Coalition and other advocates for many years, calling for the return of an inpatient hospital to North Adams. The announced beds will help restore some of what our communities lost in 2014, though nothing can replace the years of diminished access to care," their statement reads.
The MNA statement said there was no "moral justification" for the closure and lambasted the decision by hospital's previous owner three-days notice in violation of state law.
"The abrupt and unnecessary closure of North Adams Regional Hospital forced tens of thousands of people to find care further away from their communities, making it harder for them to recover from injury and illness and placing their lives at risk," they said.
Nancy Bullett, a former city councilor, had lobbied strongly to keep the hospital open and was cheered by the news.
"I worked at NARH for 17 years. My grandson was born the day the announcement if the closing and discharged the day they closed," said Bullett. "I was just talking about the days when four floors were open, before the north wing was built. I believe this is a positive step for the future. Our community in evolving and growing and a full service medical facility is an essential part of the resurgence of North Adams! Coming back strong!"
Dr. Paul Donovan had worked at NARH for 22 years and been president of its medical staff, leaving several years before its closure. Since then, he's written a meticulously researched three-volume history on the hospital, which closed weeks before its 130th anniversary.
Now on staff at Berkshire Medical Center, the orthopedist learned through internal email of the reopening.
"I think it's great news for Northern Berkshire, especially North Adams and I hope BHS is successful in their application for both designation as a critical access hospital but also reopening with inpatient beds," he said. "[BHS has] done a good service in the area and the fact that they're even contemplating open up the inpatient beds, I think is very good."
Asked if he will now have to add a coda to his hospital history, Donovan responded that he thought his writing days were over, but "maybe so."
"It sounds like that might be approved by 2024, that would be the 10-year anniversary of [NARH] closing so it would be appropriate," he said.
Tags: NARH,
