Grebien calls out CNE on not protecting Pawtucket

PAWTUCKET – At the very least, says Mayor Donald Grebien, Care New England should bear the costs of making the vacant Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island space on Brewster Street “pad ready” for future development.

Grebien told The Breeze officials remain “very concerned about the lack of commitment to Pawtucket and northern Rhode Island” as part of a proposed merger of Care New England and Partners HealthCare.

The need for additional emergency services is obvious, he said, and the delays and impacts to everyday Rhode Islanders are overburdening the other emergency rooms throughout the state.

“A solution needs to be factored into the Care New England and Partners merger,” he said.

The hospital group must take responsibility for the issues it created, he emphasized.

The health provider needs to provide the city “with land ready for development,” he said. The cost rehabbing the former hospital has been said to be very expensive.

“They can’t just walk away. These issues need to be worked out in concert with the approval for a CNE/Partners merger,” Grebien said. “I would also encourage our state leaders to ensure that there are detailed plans to keep services accessible and affordable for Rhode Islanders, and an ability to hold them to those promised.”

The Pawtucket area has been without a hospital, emergency room and necessary services for more than a year after CNE shut down Memorial Hospital, said the mayor. The city, along with the Rhode Island Department of Health, have been meeting regularly with Care New England with no success.”

A representative for CNE did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2013, Grebien said, Care New England made the case to the state that the company was capable of taking over Memorial Hospital.

“They made promises of both quality care and a coordinated system of care,” said the mayor. “They reneged on that commitment and dismantled the hospital piece by piece. Pawtucket and the Blackstone Valley paid the price for their poor business decision. Right after the state was done monitoring the hospital purchase, they began shutting down services.”

Reviving a frequent criticism, Grebien said CNE diverted patients away from Memorial Hospital to make the case that services weren’t needed. They closed the obstetrics unit, removed orthopedics and other specialty services, downsized the intensive care unit to four beds, and cut the number of inpatients in half, he said.

“This was all done years before they requested the closure of the hospital,” he said. “Since their closure, area emergency rooms are overloaded and wait times immediately spiked, while placing added burdens on our local rescues and emergency services.”