Brockton Hospital remains closed after fire, putting strain on first responders, patients
BROCKTON - "HOSPITAL CLOSED" says the flashing electronic sign blocking the driveway where ambulances used to pull into Brockton Hospital. It's been shut down since an electrical fire forced patients to evacuate on February 7.
Instead, patients are crowding other area hospitals, including the city's only other emergency room at Good Samaritan Medical Center, where the ER patient volume has doubled. "The person I'm visiting was on a cot I think all night long, and finally got into a room this morning," said Arnie Pedowitz, whose relative arrived at Good Samaritan in an ambulance Monday night.
"Everybody's overwhelmed, but I've heard Brockton's not going to be open for quite some time," said Christina Flynn, whose 84-year-old mother has been at Good Samaritan Medical Center since she took a serious fall last week. She says her mother is being treated in the hallway. "I think we're going to see if we can get her into a rehab place because waiting for this bed to open up could be, God knows how long," Flynn said. "It's already been six or seven days, so I can't take it anymore."
A week after the fire, Signature Health, which runs Brockton Hospital, has not offered any information about plans for the hospital's future. It's putting a strain on first responders, especially since Norwood Hospital is also out of commission ever since a flood in 2020.
"With the closure of two hospitals in our area, it certainly created, I don't want to call it a crisis yet, but it's certainly building to that point," said Sharon Fire Dep. Chief Michael Madden.
The station had to call in extra staff Tuesday, because when crews respond to calls, they're gone for longer. "We're all transporting further away. We're transporting Needham, or into Boston. We do a lot of transports to Rhode Island now," he said.