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North County Community Wants Input Into Health Care Study

Signs are still being placed around the city calling for the hospital to reopen; BMC opened a satellite emergency facility in the hospital Monday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Community and union members aren't letting up the pressure now that emergency services have returned to North Adams

"I really think we did an amazing job as a community getting that open," Robbin Simonetti, former North Adams Regional Hospital nurse and one of the leaders of the Save NARH campaign, told the group gathered at the American Legion on Tuesday. "It's not over. I call that phase one.

"We've got to stay strong and united."

The two unions representing workers at the former hospital, 1199SEIU and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, are calling for assurances that community input will be part of the Stroudwater Associates report commissioned by the state to evaluate medical needs in the community.

Mayor Richard Alcombright said he has been in frequent "texting" contact with Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz on that matter and others.

"I have the firm commitment of Secretary Polanowicz that we will have community input," he said. "Without that, what good would they do us?"

The report, expected to be completed in 45 to 60 days — or about the time the ownership of the assets of the defunct Northern Berkshire Healthcare is decided — will detail the medical needs of the community and the recommended services that should be situated in North County.

Alcombright said he had confidence in Stroudwater because of the health consultants familiarity with community hospitals and the region. A past Stroudwater report led to keeping the small Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington open. The 28-bed acute-care facility also was granted a federal Critical Care Access designation that was denied NARH.

Simonetti and Cindy Bird, representing MNA and 1199SEIU, respectively, had been able to meet with Polanowicz for a half-hour last week and spoke to him about the need for local input into the report. Bird said they raised the issue of whether Fairview's position in a more affluent end of the county influenced that assessment.

"We told him we were concerned there was more money that way," said Bird, but Polanowicz told them the report would look at the population and what people would use the hospital for.

"He was very informative, very approachable," she said. "I think he's really working in the best interests of us."

Simonetti said they have asked that the consultants do more than regurgitate data from the health-care systems, that they speak with unit nurses and technicians about procedures and needs, and with community members to understand the impact of the hospital's loss. A community forum should be held, she said, "to gain the broadest input."

A standing invitation has been sent to Polanowicz (as well as Gov. Deval Patrick) to attend one of the weekly Tuesday meetings held at the Legion since the hospital's abrupt closure on March 28. The group has been dunning Polanowicz's office for more than a week to pressure him to appear.

BHS, reportedly with strong encouragement from the state, negotiated with the unions last week to recognize much of the contracts they had with Northern Berkshire Healthcare. In particular, 1199SEIU's representation of non-nursing staff will extend to BHS.

"That day for me was kind of a revelation that North Adams will no longer be our hospital," said Bird sadly.

While there are those who don't like unions, they have "left a footprint" here, she said, in keeping up the pressure to return medical services.

Michael Fadel, director of campaigns for MNA and former executive for 1199SEIU, said the community had come together.

"It happened because people organized, because people talked to each other, because people signed petitions," he said. "It happens because of the activity you've done week by week. Keep up what brought us to this point and we're going to get the broad range of services we need."

Alcombright, however, cautioned that services would have to be sustainable, and that's what Stroudwater would be looking at.

"We need to be certain that we listen to what it is we need, moreso sometimes than what we want, because the difference between want and need can be the difference between failure and success," he said.

BMC has tendered an initial offering of $4 million for NBH's assets, which will be placed for public bid next week. Berkshire Health Systems has declined to speculate on what it might do with the facility should it win the bidding.

"I still maintain that Berkshire Health systems is not going to involve themselves in purchasing four floors of building for one floor of service," the mayor had said on Monday. "There's got to be a bigger plan in their mind and, quite honestly, what will come out of this study."

• A bus with MNA members was leaving Peebles at 7 a.m. to go to the State House to rally for transparency and nurse staffing measures. Anyone wishing to come along and support the effort and hospital services in North Adams were invited.

• Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art was giving out free tickets to members of the NARH community to the 15th anniversary dance party on Saturday.

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