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Hundreds protest hospital's closing Waltham Mayor
says shutdown poses public threat
By And Emily Sweeney,Boston Globe Staff Correspondent Rowland,
Globe Staff, 2/12/2002
WALTHAM - If the fate of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital could be decided
by people like 83-year-old Jeanne Saunders, instead of the volatile
forces of the health care market, the outcome would never be in doubt.
Saunders, a Weston resident, has been treated for three heart attacks
at the community hospital and says she owes her life to its staff.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Waltham Hospital," said Saunders,
gripping a cane and a pair of gloves outside Waltham High School's
auditorium. "This is my hospital. This is a community hospital. To
take it away would be a crime." Saunders was among the overflow crowd
of more than 1,200 area residents and hospital staff who packed a
state Department of Public Health hearing last night.
Commissioner Howard Koh called the mandatory meeting to give residents
a chance to comment on CareGroup Healthcare System's plan to close
the 116-year-old hospital in April.
"We live here, and you never know when you're going to have an emergency,"
said Eddy Wong, 42, of Waltham, explaining why he brought his 18-month-old
daughter Michelle to the forum. Nearly 90 people signed up to give
testimony.
CareGroup, which also operates Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
in Boston, says it must close the Waltham facility because financial
losses there have been too great. CareGroup chairman John Hamill rattled
off a list of grim statistics last night before the restless crowd.
Between 1997 and 2001, he said, Deaconess-Waltham saw a 25 percent
decline in in-patient volume and said the hospital lost $5 million
last year alone. He also cited unfavorable Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement
rates and high costs of pharmaceuticals and blood.
Mayor David Gately questioned what costs the city will suffer if the
hospital closes. Nearby community hospitals will be unable to absorb
Deaconess-Waltham's 20,000 emergency room visits per year, he said,
leaving people with few alternatives. Hospitals in the Boston area
are already plagued by crowded emergency rooms, forcing them to divert
patients elsewhere.
"I'm not a doctor, but I can count," said Gately. "If this hospital
closes, lives will be lost, emergency care will be too many miles
and too many minutes away."
CareGroup caught state health officials by surprise in January when
it dismissed the hospital's board of trustees and announced plans
to close it down.
This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 2/12/2002.
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