When: Thursday, July 25, 2013 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Where: Outside Baystate Franklin Medical Center, 164 High St., Greenfield, MA
What: Registered nurses from Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC), along with other community leaders and advocates from the Community Health Care Initiative, will be holding a community rally outside the Greenfield-based facility on July 25, to call upon Baystate Health to restore and expand services for the care of Franklin County residents in Franklin County.
Baystate Health has been systematically moving services and procedures from Franklin Medical Center to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. At a community forum in March attended by 120 Franklin County residents, person after person told their story of having to commute to Springfield for care that used to be provided at their local community hospital, Franklin Medical Center. These stories are backed by Department of Public Health and federal Medicare data. And this spring, 10 communities in Franklin County passed resolutions at their town meetings calling upon Baystate to restore and expand services for the care of Franklin County residents close to home.
“We believe that the people of this community have the right to have a say in the decisions that will promote community wellness and improve access to care in our community at our hospital. This rally is part of an ongoing effort to raise public awareness of the need to return of health care services to our hospital so that Franklin County residents are not forced to travel to Springfield for care that should be delivered right here in Greenfield,” said Linda Judd, a nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United local bargaining unit,
Who: Nurses, community leaders, residents of Franklin County
Contact: For information and comments on the event, contact Linda Judd, BFMC RN at 413-625-2855 or Patti Williams, member of the Community Health Care Initiative, at 413-774-6406
