‘The patients did not come’: Baystate Mary Lane, part of Ware since 1909, closing in two years under pressure of the modern health care market
Updated Jan 26, 2021;
Posted Jan 26, 2021
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WARE The president and CEO of Baystate Health said Tuesday he knows there will be some anger in the community about the health system’s plan to wind down operations at the Mary Lane Outpatient Center over the next two years, shifting services to Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer.
Dr. Mark A. Keroack who saw patients at Mary Lane when he practiced in Worcester, and whose parents were born there in the 1920s said people have an emotional attachment to the hospital, which has been part of Ware’s community since 1909.
Jan 27, 2021
Baystate Health is planning to close the Mary Lane Outpatient Center in Ware.
There will be a two-year transition period for most of the hospital s services to move to Baystate Wing in Palmer.
Baystate CEO Dr. Mark Keroack said patients chose to receive care in other locations despite the fact that Baystate had significantly invested in the Mary Lane facility in the last several years.
(Photo Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Baystate Health’s addition of psychiatric beds helps fill void (Editorial)
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
After Providence Behavioral Health closed its 74 inpatient psychiatric beds in Holyoke, it took with it 12 beds offered to children and teens. Imagine being told that your son or daughter, possibly suicidal, will be sent two hours away to Salem or, hopefully, relatively closer, Manchester, Connecticut.
And due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a shortage of beds, those with serious mental health issues in need of hospitalization that can’t travel are facing long wait times which can add up to days – even weeks.
“There are not enough inpatient psychiatry hospital beds in the region, especially with the closing of services at Providence,” said Dr. Barry D. Sarvet, chair of Baystate Health’s department of psychiatry. “But even before it was closing, we did not have enough beds.”
Baystate Health’s plans to close Mary Lane Outpatient Center in Ware rankles local, state officials
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
Posted Jan 27, 2021
Baystate Health plans to close the emergency department at Mary Lane Outpatient Center by June and shutter the entire facility in two years. (Don Treeger / The Republican)
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Baystate plans to close the emergency department by June and shutter the facility completely within two years.
“I’m just livid,” said state Sen. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, whose district includes Ware and surrounding communities.
“Completely blindsided by it,” she said in an interview, adding: “They’ve never been shy about reaching out to legislators if there is a need.”
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