Staff and Families See These Actions as a Precursor to Closing the Facility Despite the Legislature’s Recent Efforts to Protect Pappas for the Coming Year and While a Special Legislative Commission is Convened to Explore the Potential Longterm Future of the Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 22, 2025
CONTACT: David Schildmeier (MNA), 781-249-0430
Natalia Garcia (SEIU 509) 978-514-0336
Nancy Silva (AFSCME 1517) 774-202-8065
CANTON, Mass. — Unionized caregivers/workers, along with parents and other supporters of the Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children, will hold a demonstration outside the Canton-based facility to protest an unrelenting effort to force the unwarranted discharge of the state’s most vulnerable disabled children from the facility, while also failing to admit any new patients, severely disabled patients who are currently languishing in acute care hospitals in need of the state-of-the art care provided at Pappas.
What: Pappas staff, families and supporters to protest DPH efforts to discharge patients, while failing to admit patients in need of Pappas-level care.
When: Thursday, Oct. 23 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Where: Outside the main entrance to the Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital at 3 Randolph
Street, Canton
“We continue to discharge our patients to residential schools or other hospitals that cannot provide the same level of care our patients receive at Pappas, but have not admitted patients at the same rate in the past six months,” explained Michelle Sweeney, Pappas’ Supervisor of Physical Therapy and co-chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association local bargaining unit for Pappas. “The clinical staff have approved multiple admissions, but we have been blocked from admitting these patients to our care for one reason or another. We know that there are as many as 100 children currently boarding in acute care hospitals, and I’m unclear why none of them have been admitted to Pappas. There is already a shortage of acute beds in the state, especially for pediatric patients, and we would welcome the opportunity to care for so many of them at Pappas.”
“We are calling on our community to stand with us as we fight to protect our students and the integrity of the care they receive. DPH is moving forward with the aggressive and, in many cases, unfounded discharge of students and patients despite calls for pause from Governor Healey,” said Caitlyn Horigan, a teacher at Pappas and member of SEIU Local 509. “This facility is more than just a hospital, it is a place of learning, healing, and hope. Our students are some of the most vulnerable in the state, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and given the opportunity to thrive, not pushed out through rushed and questionable discharges. Our students matter. We will not stand by in silence as they are dismissed and displaced. We will fight for what is right, to demand that admissions are allowed as in the past and to keep this vital facility open and serving the people who need it most.”
“Since hearing of the potential closure of Pappas we continue in our quest to save this specialized facility. Pappas is a community, a place where children with unique medical , emotional, and social needs can receive care tailored specifically for them,” explained Nancy Silva, president of AFSCME 1517, which also represents staff at Pappas. “There is no excuse for the continued discharges and lack of admissions to Pappas when the need for the specialized services provided at Pappas is so great. We are calling for investment in public health, not just at Pappas but across the state, to ensure continued access to quality care for Massachusetts’ most vulnerable residents.”
The staff see the state’s efforts as a callous precursor to the administration’s ultimate aim, which is to dismantle the facility despite recent efforts in both the House and Senate to approve language in the Fiscal 2026 Budget that preserves Pappas, and while a Governor-appointed “Pappas Working Group” of stakeholders is finalizing a report that includes potential recommendations to both preserve and expand services provide by the landmark program. As part of this effort to save Pappas, the Legislature has also called for the convening of a special commission to meet over the coming months to explore options for the care of this population and to address the long-term future of Pappas.
Background on Situation
- Founded in 1904 on a 160-acre campus, The Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children (PRHC) provides medical, rehabilitative, educational, recreational, habilitative, transitional, and complementary alternative medical services to children and young adults (ages 7 – 22+) with multiple disabilities. PRHC assists them to achieve their optimal level of independence in all aspects of life. There is no program or service anywhere in the state, and possibly the nation, that provides the level of care and services currently provided at Pappas, with a multi-talented staff, many with decades of service to this complex population. Reporters who want to understand the full scope of care and services provided at Pappas should view this video narrated by Alan Alda about the Pappas program.
- On January 25, Governor Healey announced plans to close the facility, a decision that was met with immediate and widespread opposition from current and past patients and families, Pappas staff, legislators and other advocates for disabled children. In fact, a petition circulated after the announcement garnered close to 20,000 signatures in a matter of weeks.
- On February 24th, the night before a State House Rally and legislative briefing featuring Pappas patients and families was to be held, the Governor announced she was “pausing” the closure plan and would be convening a Working Group of stakeholders to discuss the situation and to make recommendations on the care of Pappas children and the future of Pappas.
- Unfortunately, on February 25, the same day that families met with legislators and the media at the State House to discuss the value of the program, as well as to celebrate the so called “pause” of the closure, the leadership of Pappas informed the families that efforts to pursue the discharge of patients from the facility would continue unabated, and those efforts have only accelerated in recent weeks. The unions have made direct appeals to the Governor and DPH to cease and desist all discharges until the legislature and the Pappas Working Group have completed their work.
- Pappas staff involved in the discharge process report that none of the settings being proposed to families and guardians of Pappas’ patients provide the same level of care patients are currently receiving at Pappas, yet families and guardians are being pressured to accept those placements.
- While failing to honor the pause for the discharge of patients, the state has paused any and all efforts to admit any new long term care patients to the facility despite the fact that many of these patients are currently languishing in our state’s acute care hospitals, and many of whom should be eligible for the care Pappas provides.
- Throughout April and May, both the House and Senate debated and ultimately passed specific language in the Fiscal 26 State Budget to fully fund Pappas through 2026, while also establishing a special legislative commission, which will be charged with evaluating the needs of the population served by Pappas and options for maintain and expand Pappas to serve this vulnerable population for years to come.
- Also, beginning in April, as part of her call to pause the closure, the Governor and DPH convened a Pappas Working Group, compromised of families, staff, policymakers and health care advocates to review the needs for pediatric services for disabled children, which would include considering a number of options, including those to both preserve and expand the care and services provided on the Pappas campus. The Working Group has completed its work, and we await the public release of its findings.
