Closure of Brockton Hospital has 'cascading effect' across southeastern Mass. health care
BROCKTON - Marc Gilpatric was supposed to undergo back surgery soon at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton but when he arrived it was a different story. "They told me to come today and be admitted, wait three days and get the neurology done, Monday would be surgery and we'd go from there. But they didn't have a bed today and it was a ten-plus hour wait," Gilpatric told WBZ-TV.
The hospital has been stressed to the limit with the closure of Brockton Hospital due to a fire last week. It's left a gaping hole in healthcare in the area, along with the closure of Norwood Hospital in 2020 from a flood and wait times for care are catastrophic.
"It's hours," said Dr. Marisela Marrero of Good Samaritan. "We have 42 physical beds in the emergency room right now, and over 120 patients active in that department."
Ambulance companies like Brewster have nearly doubled their service to Good Samaritan in an effort to transfer patients to other medical facilities if necessary. "We've also deployed additional vehicles to go to Good Samaritan to handle discharge work to decompress the hospital that's feeling the surge of patients coming through," said Chris DiBona of Brewster Ambulance.
The Foxboro Fire Chief says the closure is having a "cascading effect" across southeastern Massachusetts and help will be needed from the state. "Changes in regulations, different avenues of delivering care to better serve citizens, and get some bed capacity down here," said Chief Michael Kelleher.
The Brockton Community Health Center is also feeling the stress. The already short-staffed facility is trying to ramp up to deal with an influx of patients who can no longer rely on Brockton Hospital for what may be months or even longer. "We're not necessarily seeing more volume but sicker patients who might have gone to the emergency room instead of coming to us," said CEO Sue Joss.
The healthcare facilities say no patients will be turned away, but there's concern about getting them timely care and many have limited resources. "We need staff here today. Our patients don't have access to a car, don't speak English, a lot of times can't get in a car and go elsewhere," said Dr. Marrero.
As for Marc Gilpatric, his surgery will have to be postponed at least two months. "The pain of sitting in one of those chairs, I can't endure ten hours in one of those chairs, no way," he said.