Gatherings and forums planned in Steward Hospital communities

A coalition of residents, health care workers, businesses and other leaders has organized a series of rallies and forums over the next week in the communities where Steward Health Care hospitals are located with the goal of Urge elected leaders and stakeholders to take action to avoid reductions or closures. on the sites.

The Coalition, Our Community | Our hospital also launched an online petition calling on elected leaders to secure ownership of Steward facilities to “ensure that patients and families long served by these institutions continue to have access to the care and services they provide for generations to come. .”

The rallies and forums, which began Tuesday afternoon in Taunton, will be held in Brockton, Methuen, Haverhill, Fall River, Dorchester and Brighton.

Steward, which manages 30 hospitals across the country, operates nine health care facilities in Massachusetts. Gov. Maura Healey and other elected officials have said they are closely monitoring the financially troubled company as it navigates an uncertain future.

Our community | Our hospital said in a statement announcing the week’s events that Steward facilities are among the communities’ largest employers, with “more than 16,000 workers and caregivers, who not only protect care, but also contribute to economic health of our small businesses. , large towns and cities.”

“The loss of any of these facilities will be a devastating blow to the Commonwealth’s entire health care infrastructure, particularly to some of the most vulnerable and marginalized patients and families,” the coalition wrote in its petition. “Patients will be subjected to dangerous delays in care, will be forced to travel longer distances for care and, for many, will go without care altogether. »

The “critical task” now facing stakeholders, the group said, is securing new ownership of the Steward facility and “ensuring a safer and more equitable nonprofit health care system.”

“The failure of this endeavor is not an option that any of us should accept or tolerate,” the group wrote. “The health of our residents is not a commodity that can be traded; it is a valuable resource that we all share a responsibility to protect for the future of our communities.

Below is a list of rallies and forums organized by the coalition:

Good Samaritan Medical Center Community Forum
Wednesday April 24 at 6:30 p.m.
At Keating Hall, 800 Perkins Avenue, Brockton

Holy Family Hospital/Methuen Community Gathering
Wednesday April 24 at 3 p.m.
14-274 Berkeley Street, Methuen

Holy Family Hospital/Haverhill Community Gathering
Wednesday April 24 at 4:30 p.m.
Lincoln Avenue and Brown Street, Haverhill

Community gathering at Sainte-Anne Hospital
Thursday April 25 at 3:30 p.m.
At Kennedy Park, 132 Bradford Avenue, Fall River

Carney Hospital Community Forum
Thursday April 25 at 6:30 p.m.
At St. Gregory Auditorium, 2214 Dorchester Ave., Boston

St. Elizabeth Medical Center Community Forum
Monday April 29 at 3:00 p.m.
In front of the hospital, 738 Cambridge St., Brighton