The state Department of Public Health has announced it will hold a public hearing this week on the planned closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center.
The in-person hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Devens Common Center, 31 Andrews Parkway, Devens.
In its announcement, posted Aug. 7, the department stated that the hearing would not be “adjudicatory” in nature, but rather “a public forum for the presentation of any comments which may be relevant to the Department’s consideration of the proposed change.”
The Massachusetts Nurses Association, through its spokesperson David Schildmeier, is urging concerned residents, caregivers, and local officials to turn out “to voice strong opposition to the closure and to call on the state to save the facility.”
Among the stakeholders who have recently joined the nurses association in its call for government action to keep Nashoba open are the Devens Enterprise Commission and the Ayer Select Board.
Acting in its role as the Board of Health for Devens, the DEC commissioners sent a strongly worded two-page letter to DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh on July 31 urging them to do “all within their power” to keep the facility open, framing its loss as a threat to the growth of Devens and the region. “Medical care for this growing and thriving region is a necessity for our continued shared prosperity. The closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center will have significant economic impacts to Devens and this region as a whole,” DEC Chair Bill Marshall wrote.
And following a packed hearing at its Aug. 6 meeting, the Ayer Select Board unanimously adopted a resolution that calls on Gov. Maura Healey to declare a state of emergency and keep Nashoba “open and operational.” The following day, Aug. 7, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Dan Sena led a demonstration at the State House in Boston to protest the closing.
Watch for news of the hearing and further developments on Friday at harvardpress.com.
