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Hospital Advocacy Group Marks Closure Anniversary
By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
08:54PM / Wednesday, March 28, 2018
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Rachel Branch addresses other members of the North County Cares Coalition at Wednesday's observance of the fourth anniversary of the closing of North Adams Regional Hospital.


Martin Greenstein, an employee and later volunteer at NARH, recalls how well everyone was treated there. 'The care that was given was beyond anything I had observed in some major New York hospitals that I worked at.'
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It hit Cindy Bird when she looked into a mirror in the ladies' room at the former North Adams Regional Hospital. 
 
The local union representative for SEIU1199 had just walked down a hallway lined with law enforcement officers bent on preventing a sit-in to stop the hospital from locking the doors. Up until then, employees were still clinging to the hope that something, or someone, would stop the looming closure.
 
"I realized at that moment it was done ... It was done," she said. "I started hysterically crying."
 
Many of 500 or so workers at Northern Berkshire Healthcare have moved on, or found a place in the revamped hospital facility now owned by Berkshire Health Systems. But it's still a sore spot four years later. 
 
The days following the shutdown lead to overflowing meetings at the American Legion as the community and employees came together with local leaders to advocate for a solution that many still feel falls far short of the goal of restoring a full-service hospital. The numbers have dwindled as more services have returned to the hospital campus — an emergency satellite facility, outpatient surgery, dialysis, imaging and medical practices. 
 
But the hardy members of the North County Cares Coalition are still fighting for in-patient beds despite their frustration that no one seems to be listening. On Wednesday, the fourth anniversary of the closure, fewer than a dozen gathered in the formal parlor at the North Adams Public Library to mark the occasion and remember an institution that was very much family to many in North County. 
 
"Four years, four long, hard years, we have fought together, explored every possible way we could think of to restore our hospital, and only wanted the equal health care that is enjoyed by the residents of Pittsfield and Great Barrington," said Rachel Branch, whose great-grandfather Arthur Gallup bought the land for the hospital and funded the original building's Children's Wing in honor of his wife, Harriet, a hospital board member.
 
"Isn't it just heart wrenching that we could not stop all the forces in power from seeing the human rights violations they have committed on the North County residents! Isn't it just nearly unbelievable that we could not overcome the obstinance and arrogance of those in power who chose not to even speak with us! Isn't it just atrocious that no one — not one person — was held accountable for the closing of our hospital."
 
Northern Berkshire Healthcare, saddled with a mountain of debt and years of financial struggles, had been trying to find a larger and healthier partner to help it survive. Just a dozen or so years ago, a consulting team had been called in to operate the health care system and right its finances. But explorations of new technologies and cutbacks in other services and a bankruptcy reorganization weren't enough to cure the nonprofit. 
 
BHS purchased the property and assets through bankruptcy and slowly began bringing back outpatient services. BHS officials have avoided commenting on whether there is a possibility of bringing back in-patient beds. The closest hospitals are Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, part of BHS, and Southern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, both 45 minutes to an hour away.
 
Coalition members say more should have been done to prevent the hospital closing, such as tap into the Distressed Hospital Trust Fund, a competitive grant program established in 2012 to help hospitals meet requirements of the new health law, or having the state takeover. Member Dick Dassatti noted that Wells Fargo was bailed out for billions but NARH couldn't get a dime. 
 
"I'm not saying we need the hospital we had before. We need a small, good hospital so doctors can come here and practice and feel safe in their practice," Dassatti said. "Unless that full-service hospital is available we can't get a doctor or midwives ... I've talked to people about a birthing center but you have to be within 12 minutes of a hospital. ...
 
"Not having that hospital really has a larger effect on our medical care."
 
James Lipa said there are a lot of good things going on in North Adams but there's a ceiling because of the lack medical options for the area's 37,000 residents.
 
"Who's going to want to raise their family where if your son or daughter got hurt in school, your son or daughter is 45 minutes away from getting them the attention they need immediately," he said. 
 
North County is older and poorer than the most of the state, making the trek to Pittsfield more difficult. 
 
"They deserve quality care and you're not going to attract young professional people to move to this area ... unless we do have adequate medical services," Lipa said. "Right now we don't. What we have for an emergency room isn't an emergency room, it's more like a triage station."
 
The hospital was first formed in 1884 by community leaders in response to a train crash. "Is it going to take another train wreck before they open up a full-service hospital in North Adams?" asked Dassatti. 
 
Lipa said there was already a situation for which the former hospital was suited: Use as a drug treatment center.  
 
"We don't need to wait for a train wreck, it's called the opioid epidemic," he said. It was estimated 100 beds were needed in Berkshire County for intensive, weeks-long treatment. "It doesn't exist here in Northern Berkshire County yet we have a building here that's capable of doing exactly that."
 
Bird said she appreciated the efforts of the coalition members and their commitment.  
 
"Things have changed for us," she said. "I would hope that we wouldn't have to keep doing it. I would hope that somebody would hear us and do something."
 
Dr. Paul Donovan will read from his third and final volume on the history of NARH on Thursday, May 10, at 6 p.m. at the library.
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