Agreement is the product of months of advocacy and partnership between stakeholders and state leaders, will provide a sustainable solution to lack of Satellite Emergency Facility (SEF) services in the region
State Representative Margaret Scarsdale (D – Pepperell) is pleased to announce that the search for a healthcare provider to operate a Satellite Emergency Facility (SEF) in the Nashoba Valley Region has come to a successful conclusion.
“Today’s announcement that UMass Memorial will be the new operator of a Satellite Emergency Facility (SEF) in our region is welcome and critical news for our region,” said Scarsdale. “I made a promise to my constituents when Nashoba Valley Medical Center closed that I would not stop fighting until access to this essential care was restored. Our region has struggled mightily to access emergency medical services and access to routine healthcare since the collapse of Nashoba Valley Medical Center at the end of August and today, our advocacy, and the stakeholders we helped bring to the table, has opened a new path forward for restored healthcare access in our region. I am grateful to UMass Memorial for their commitment and partnership and eager to work with them to achieve that shared goal.”
From the onset of this crisis, caused by Steward Healthcare’s summer 2024 collapse, Representative Scarsdale served as the primary liaison between state leaders, local first responders and healthcare providers, and constituents throughout the region. She was instrumental in the formation of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center Working Group and co-chairs the Emergency, Outpatient, and Healthcare Services (EOHS) Sub-Committee with Ayer Town Manager Robert Pontbriand.
“Since the closure of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center, we have been diligently focused on rebuilding access to healthcare in the Nashoba Valley Region”, said Robert Pontbriand, Town Manager of Ayer and co-Chair of the Governor’s Nashoba Valley Working Group. “The announcement that UMass Memorial Health will establish a freestanding emergency department is a significant step toward stabilizing our local health care landscape and a critical step in our ongoing commitment to strengthening health care in the Nashoba Valley.”
EOHS was tasked with investigating, analyzing, and proposing viable options which will: a) sustainably address the lack of critical services in the Nashoba Valley region, including emergency, outpatient, and related healthcare services; and b) explore and report on potential funding sources to responsibly and equitably establish those needed services for the communities in North Central Massachusetts, which were left in a healthcare desert after Steward disastrous management and disruptive closure. Representative Scarsdale and EOHS will continue to work with UMass Memorial directly to address these concerns.
“Today’s news does not mean our work is over,” said Scarsdale. “The members of EOHS – which include area Fire Chiefs, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, physicians affected by the closure, Congresswoman Trahan’s office, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services – remain committed to supporting this transition, including continued investigation of, and recommendations for, services and infrastructure. We look forward to partnering with UMass Memorial on their next steps.”
“I have never doubted the restoration of critical services for this region,” said Scarsdale. “There has been a steadfast commitment to restoring care in this region from Governor Healey and members of her team, who understood the dangers of the healthcare desert that Steward created, and have been attentive, supportive, and responsive to this region’s crisis, and from members of EOHS, who have been in daily communication throughout the past six months. Today marks the beginning of a new path forward for healthcare access in the Nashoba Valley and for our communities to have access to the care they deserve.”
