The Dallas-based owner of Holy Family Hospital, with campuses in Methuen and Haverhill, plans to close its Stoughton rehabilitation hospital due to multi-million-dollar losses. Steward Health Care’s decision to close New England Sinai Acute Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Hospital by early April, company officials say, will help and not harm its Merrimack Valley hospitals. “In fact, the difficult decision to close NESH was made specifically to safeguard the strength of operations of other Steward hospitals, including ours, and protect our standard of care,” Holy Family Hospital President Craig A. Jesiolowski told staff Wednesday by email. “Holy Family will continue to serve the families of the Merrimack Valley and we will continue to ensure we can meet the demands of the health care industry as it continues to change.”
Steward said in a press release this week, “Nearly 75% of Steward hospital patients are public pay (Medicare and Medicaid) which chronically underpay, sometimes at rates less than the cost of delivering services.
Although actual construction began months ago, ground was ceremonially broken Tuesday for “The Beck,” a 290-unit housing development, park, restaurant and retail complex along the Merrimack River in Bradford. The ceremony also called attention to planned roadway improvements aimed at relieving a bottleneck at the intersection of South Elm Street, Blossom Street, Laurel Avenue and Railroad Avenue near the Joseph C. Comeau Bridge. Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini praised the developer and the state for the upgrade.
A new joint admissions agreement between Northern Essex Community College and Regis College, which improves the transfer process between the two institutions, was celebrated during a signing ceremony Tuesday. Upon acceptance to Northern Essex, students who opt into joint admissions on their application will also be conditionally accepted to Regis. Regis College President Antoinette Hays, Northern Essex Community College President Lane A. Glenn and leaders from both institutions gathered at Northern Essex’s Lawrence campus.
The Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce is celebrating the success of the state’s Housing Development Incentive Program which supports market-rate multi-family housing in Haverhill and 25 other Gateway Cities. It hailed this year’s state tax package as helping eliminate the backlog of housing projects awaiting tax relief. In a statement Wednesday, the Chamber said the money is especially helpful in Gateway Cities, where despite the fact that the costs to build housing are just as high as in the Boston area, rents are lower.
