Representative Margaret Scarsdale Named Co-Chair of Newly Formed Emergency, Outpatient, and Health Services Working Group for Nashoba Valley Medical Center
Governor’s working group establishes new sub-group to study viable, sustainable solutions to address lack of hospital services in the Nashoba Valley service area with Scarsdale to co-lead
PEPPERELL, MA – As part of the ongoing efforts to respond to the abrupt closure of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center, the Nashoba Valley Medical Center Working Group, convened by the Governor in October, has announced the formation of a specialty sub-group to work on the restoration of emergency services and ancillary healthcare services to the Nashoba Valley region and named State Representative Margaret Scarsdale (D-Pepperell) and Ayer Town Manager, Robert Pontbriand, as co-chairs.
This group will be tasked with investigating, analyzing, and proposing a viable path forward for the hospital 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 of North Central Massachusetts, which were left in a healthcare desert after Steward Healthcare’s disastrous management and Nashoba’s disruptive closure.
Representative Scarsdale, along with other key community stakeholders, led the effort to create this new sub-group specifically to work on restoration of emergency services to the area. The sub-group’s efforts will begin immediately.
“I am honored to co-chair this new sub-group to ensure our communities have access to the health care they need and deserve, and am grateful to the Governor for her leadership and close partnership in forming the broader Nashoba Valley Medical Center Working Group in October”, said Scarsdale. “Restoring services at our community hospital remains a top priority for me, and every day Nashoba remains closed is another day without access to its lifesaving care across our region. Our work is far from over. I will continue to partner with my colleagues in federal, state, and local government, our local unions, healthcare professionals, first responders, and other community stakeholders to reopen Nashoba Valley Medical Center with a broad array of critical healthcare services.”
Robert Pontbriand, Town Manager in Ayer and co-chair of the larger Nashoba Valley Medical Center Working Group will join Representative Scarsdale as co-chair of the new sub-group.
“I am looking forward to working with Representative Scarsdale and the other members of this important sub-group which is part of the Governor’s larger Nashoba Valley Medical Center Working Group. This specialty sub-group will focus on working to develop recommendations to restore emergency services and ancillary health care services to the Nashoba Valley Region and will be reporting regularly to the larger Working Group”, said Pontbriand. “Working together we remain committed to providing viable, sustainable solutions to address the lack of hospital services in the Nashoba Valley as the result of the closure back in August of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center.”
In addition to Scarsdale and Pontbriand, the other seven members include Fire Chief Timothy Johnston (Ayer), Fire Chief Steele McCurdy (Littleton), Audra Sprague (Massachusetts Nurses Association), Dr. Amjad Husain, Dr. Stephany Godfrey, Maria Syrniotis (Congresswoman Lori Trahan’s office), and Sarah Graham (EOHHS).