Berkshire Superior Court has issued a temporary restraining order on the closing of North Adams Regional Hospital.
Berkshire Superior Court is requiring the hospital’s emergency services to remain open for the time being. The court has put the case on hold until April 3. Stephanie Zollshan of The Berkshire Eagle captured Judge John Agostini’s remarks Thursday.
“If the commonwealth can provide the court by 12 o’clock tomorrow [Friday] a revised order, specifying the things that we’ve talked about, particularly in the services that they [at North Adams Regional Hospital] are required to provide while being open and address whatever issues you want me to address as raised by council,” Agostini said. “Then I will sign that revised order at 12 o’clock tomorrow [Friday].”
The order, per requests from the state attorney general office in conjunction with the Department of Public Health and Berkshire Health Systems, requires parent company Northern Berkshire Healthcare to exhaust all its funds to keep the departments open until Berkshire Medical Center is able to license and operate a satellite emergency department from the North Adams hospital. Democratic State Senator Ben Downing of Pittsfield has been working on a solution for the past few weeks.
“When you’re more than 45 minutes away from an emergency room that is a completely untenable situation,” Downing said Tuesday afternoon. “You’re talking about tens of thousands of people that would find themselves in that position if we don’t act and act expeditiously.”
On Tuesday, NBH announced it plans to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, ceasing operations and relinquishing control of its facilities.The hospital and three other medical practices NBH owns were also scheduled to close. Berkshire Health Systems, which operates Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, announced it is providing administrative services that would allow Northern Berkshire OB/GYN and Northern Berkshire Family Medicine to remain open. The plan calls for them to relocate to different offices in the area. The statement does not mention any support for Northern Berkshire General Surgery, also slated to close.
BMC will also set up a blood-drawing station at the physician office building on the North Adams Regional Hospital Campus. According to the statement, BHS is working with the New England Health Information agency to arrange for management of electronic medical records at North Adams Regional Hospital.
Community members have been gathering at the hospital since news of the planned closing began spreading. Following a meeting at the American Legion Wednesday night and a protest outside the hospital Thursday morning,between about a dozen to 40 community members have been occupying the hospital cafeteria.David Schildmeier is with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents about 100 workers at the hospital.
“While we see this as a very, very important first step in the process we believe that we need more than just emergency services,” Schildmeier said Thursday afternoon. “So we’re going to continue the occupation until we are assured and guaranteed that we have a full-service community hospital.”
The MNA and the state’s largest healthcare union, Service Employees International Union 1199 United Healthcare Workers East, which represents nearly 200 at the hospital, are calling on state government to intervene, in particular asking Governor Deval Patrick to declare a public health emergency in order to keep the hospital open. Speaking with reporters in Worcester, Governor Patrick said he would not do that after working for the past week on a possible solution. Hours later, the Democrat did declare a public health emergency taking action against the growing opioid addiction in the state.
