Last week it was reported that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has purchased a $2.5 million-plus promotional deal with the Boston Red Sox.

A news story deep inside the Boston Globe sports pages last Friday said the hospital "paid the ball club in excess of $2.5 million after negotiations last month." The newspaper reports, "Paul Levy, Beth Israel's president and CEO, said he was 'exceptionally pleased' to be doing business with the Sox. Under terms of the agreement, Levy said, Beth Israel will have exclusive advertising rights at Fenway Park, which will include signage on the scoreboard, balconies and in the grandstands. The hospital will oversee medical care for the team's front-office employees and their families, provide medical care for fans, and maintain the first-aid stations at Fenway Park, and be involved in a number of community health projects in partnership with the Sox."

News of the lucrative deal came during the same week that Beth Israel pulled out of its sponsorship of the Little House Health Center on Dorchester Avenue in Savin Hill, a facility that has been providing primary health care for about 3,500 mostly low-income Dorchester residents.

Last week, well before word became public of the multi-million Red Sox deal, the remaining staff members of the Little House paid for a poignant farewell advertisement in this newspaper. It read in part:

"As we close our doors, we want you to know that we have shared the stages of grief that we know you have experienced. We have felt shock, denial, anger, sadness, and now, although reluctantly, we are in a place of acceptance... The final truth: Little House Health Center and each of you will remain in our hearts forever."

When Beth Israel first signaled its intention to pull out of the neighborhood health center last fall, furtive efforts were made in the community to find a way to save the facility. Elected officials sought to mediate a transition period, during which a new sponsor could be found. Mayor Menino tried to forestall the closing with a promise of city funding within the next year. A Dorchester health care consortium offered to take over management of the Little House Health Center and begged Beth Israel to hold in for just a few more months.

But Levy said he could not afford to keep this health center on life support, and pulled the plug.

Imagine how the neighborhood feels now: even while Beth Israel was ending its care for poor people on Dot Ave, they were outbidding three other hospital groups for the right to treat season ticket holders at Fenway Park. The money being paid to the Red Sox would have funded health care in this poor neighborhood for the next ten years! But Beth Israel, seeing a better "payer mix" at the ballpark, put profits over people.

One Dorchester health care manager wondered aloud this week about just what motivated the Beth Israel people: "Health care is supposed to be not-for-profit," he lamented. "You don't make money on health centers- you're there to help the people who need it."

State Rep. Marty Walsh, who issued a press release Tuesday reacting to the news, was similarly outraged: "BI-Deaconess has chosen feel good advertising over the good health of their patients. They are more interested in playing ball with the Red Sox than providing health care to deserving families in Dorchester."

Well said. And, we can report with authority that similar reactions are reported from many other quarters this week, including the Mayor's office, where Tom Menino has invested many hours of his own time in trying to salvage the Little House, to no avail.

The result seems clear: Paul Levy and BI-Deaconess have won their bid to bat for the wallets of Red Sox fans; but when they had a chance to deliver on their mission of serving the city's neediest, BI-Deaconess simply struck out.

-Ed Forry