There was some very good news for Dorchester and Mattapan last week: Caritas Christi Health Care, the second largest health care system in New England, announced its commitment to continue to support and expand upon the mission of Caritas Carney Hospital.
In an official statement, Caritas officials pledged that Carney “will remain open as an acute care hospital serving the needs of its community.”
The news came even as a coalition of neighborhood health care advocates and public officials were staging a community meeting at the Sheet Metal Workers Hall in Lower Mills to call for more support for the Carney. The group, once calling itself the Coalition to Save Carney Hospital, had recently abandoned the “save” language and inserted “strengthen” in the belief the old name itself worked to the detriment of the group’s goals.
The community gathering was surprised to find that their gathering would be attended by high ranking Caritas officials, among them the new boss himself, Caritas CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre. In a stirring development, de la Torre took the microphone and pledged that, rather than downsizing the hospital, he intended to make sweeping changes to “revitalize” the facility.
To a round of applause, the hospital chief said he was committed to reversing direction for the Carney, and he invited everyone to read a consultant’s report about the hospital online at caritaschristi.org. On the website, de la Torre said, “Caritas Carney and Laboure College are indispensible resources to the residents of Dorchester and its surrounding communities, and it gives me great pleasure to reaffirm Carney’s role as an acute care hospital devoted to our mission of providing the highest quality medical care available. This begins an exciting new chapter for Carney. I am confident that the decision to revitalize Carney and Laboure will make our entire system stronger. Carney’s long tradition as vital caregiver and employer in Dorchester’s ethnically rich and economically vulnerable community will be preserved.”
Caritas Christi, the second largest health care system in New England, is a Roman Catholic Church-sponsored network of six acute care hospitals, including Carney, Caritas St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton, and hospitals in Norwood, Brockton, Methuen, and Fall River. As the result of recent governance reforms, Caritas has become more independent of the Archdiocese of Boston, and has been adding new executives and managers. Locally, the 159-bed Carney has suffered from a lack of capital investment, as the Caritas system was focused on other priorities.
One important measurement of progress at the Carney will be how much local residents make use of the hospital. The new strategies at Caritas will likely include a more-focused plan to sell the hospital’s value to the changing market, and a review of significant public health needs among the target patient population. Part of the consultant report suggests the need for an investment of over $30 million by the year 2013 in infrastructure improvements. The Caritas Christ leaders pledged they “will be aggressively seeking public and private support for this worthwhile venture.”
So the good news is we have our own acute care hospital, now and into the future. It has long been the case that the Carney staff – doctors, nurses, managers, and support staff – are top-notch people. There is and always has been, a special feeling there: welcoming, friendly, and caring.
The even better news will be a commitment from the community to take advantage of this jewel in our midst.
