Aerial view of North Shore Medical Center Union Hospital in Lynn on Friday, Aug. 26. Photo by Scott Eisen
By Gayla Cawley
LYNN — More than a month after the state approved a plan that will shutter Union Hospital, residents are still shell-shocked.
“I think it’s a mistake and I think that the organization that runs the hospital, they’re not doing the right thing,” said Joseph Ray, a Lynn resident. “The city needs a hospital.”
Last month, the Public Health Council of the state Department of Public Health unanimously approved a $180 million expansion of North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) that will close Union and move the beds to a new Salem campus in 2019.
Conditions of the closure included that NSMC continue to evaluate the health care needs in Lynn, ensure that the hospital’s board be representative of the people they serve and provide progress reports during and after construction. The state did not require that NSMC keep emergency services in Lynn.
But in an interview following the hearing, Robert Norton, NSMC president, told The Item they are exploring what kind of emergency service will be provided to the region when construction is completed. He said possibilities could be to continue what’s there today or a different model such as an urgent care center.
The medical facilities in Lynn and Salem are part of Partners Healthcare.
Ray said Union Hospital is superior to its sister hospital in Salem. The nursing care a person gets at Union is superior, he said, and the overall care he’s received in Lynn has been better. On Thursday, he went to Union Hospital for blood work, citing the convenience and a preference for the way the procedure is done there.
The lifelong Lynner said there’s a lot of land near Union Hospital on Lynnfield Street, and he’s worried about what could end up there. When the idea of a mental health facility was mentioned, he said it caused an uproar.
“I’m concerned of what it won’t be,” Ray said. “It won’t be a hospital. It won’t provide that service that’s needed.”
Don Barbuzzi, 55, a resident of Woodland Avenue North, which abuts Union, said his biggest concern is the potential loss of emergency services for his family, friends and neighbors.
“I’m very much concerned over the medical aspect of it,” he said.
Barbuzzi had knee surgery a week ago at Sports Medicine North in Peabody, but went to Union about two months ago for X-rays. When it closes, he said, that won’t be an option.
Other concerns include hospital workers losing their jobs and how he would be affected as a neighbor, fearful of what would move there.
“Being a resident so close to the hospital, you’ve got to wonder what would happen,” Barbuzzi said.
Patricia Kennedy, a Woodland Avenue North resident for 50 years, said the hospital closing is sad.
“I just feel bad for the residents of the city,” she said.
Pat Morley, 69, an abutter on Orlando Avenue, said she is retired from the accounting office at Union Hospital, and that her children also worked there. She thinks there should be a full-service hospital there because of the proximity of the major highways.
Morley said she’s heard there could be doctors offices at the hospital site, but is concerned there could be a mental health facility instead. She recalled an incident years ago where a mental health patient had been released and was picnicking in her neighbor’s yard.
“I don’t think this is the neighborhood for a full mental hospital,” she said.
Mary Stewart, a Lynnfield resident, said the pleas of citizens and town officials were ignored.
“I know Lynnfield is very upset about it,” she said. “My whole town was behind keeping this hospital open.”
William Sullivan, 48, an abutter on Daytona Road, said he feels bad for people who will be out of a job when the hospital closes. He said he hasn’t had the best experience with people after they were treated and released, some hitting him up for money, and one man found sleeping in his shed. He’s heard Union will become a drug rehabilitation center.
Teresa Rucker, a Lynn resident, said the staff at Union has a general coldness toward people who might actually be in pain, because the staff sees so many people looking for drugs. “The convenience of it is nice, but I don’t like the care,” she said.
Katerina Panagiotakis, a Lynn resident and leader in the Save Union Hospital movement, said the reason the hospital was created in the first place was because it’s needed. She said the facility would probably become something that’s noncompetitive to Salem Hospital and the services it provides.
Panagiotakis said the region’s residents would have difficulty getting to Salem.
“Every minute is lifesaving, and it seems to me that we’re trying to save minutes and Partners is trying to save pennies,” she said. “And that’s more important to them than lives.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.