Framingham Union is in Critical Condition
A Tale of Two Hospitals | Nurses Seek to Organize | Questions for Candidates | What I am Reading This Week | Community Events | The Civic Week Ahead
Oh, look, it is raining again, Framingham.
In last week’s issue I wrote the preliminary election was the next day, Tuesday, September 12. The friendly, hardworking City Clerk’s Office informed me I had the wrong date - the preliminary is actually TOMORROW, September 19. I made the correction on the web version of The Ham’er. Boston’s preliminary was last Tuesday, and that was stuck in my head.
To recap: tomorrow District 9 is the only district with a preliminary election.
Voting starts at 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. at Harmony Grove Elementary School. Special thank you to the hard working team in the City Clerk’s Office for all their work running these elections.
Have a comment or question? I’d love to hear from you. Email me at mkfeeney@gmail.com
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A Tale of Two Hospitals
Issues at Framingham Union continue: At the last Council meeting District 9 Councilor Tracey Bryant had a lot to say about what is going on in the community hospital.
Hearing about more than five hour wait times and people waiting in hallways, Bryant asked Mayor Sisitsky what was going on and if there “is any hope”.
Nurses vs CEO?: The Mayor responded he had met with long tenured nurses, who explained to him their concerns with the conditions and staffing issues.
He then met with the new CEO John Whitlock Jr., who told the Mayor “a completely different side of the story”.
Whitlock - made CEO of the for profit hospital owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healtcare in July - told the Mayor that things were going well at the hospital, including staffing, and there are new plans to move people through the ER.
“He has a completely different story than what we are hearing from other people, and we are just trying to get to the bottom of it. We don’t have a lot of leverage over the hospital and the state doesn’t either. We’re doing what we can to find out what is going on and try to influence them to do the right thing. It isn’t an easy task,” said the Mayor.
Time for a community conversation: Councilor John Stefanini requested that Council Chair Phil Ottaviani invite the hospital administration to a future Council meeting. “There is a lot more to the story than what the chiefs and CEO is throwing out the door. Us staying silent is not going to get us anything. I think we need to bring these folks in and have a conversation about this and facilitate a dialogue with the community.”
Nurses Seeking to Organize
Filed to unionize: 278 nurses at Framingham Union are seeking to form a union and join the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The nurses filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, September 12 to trigger an election on joining the MNA.
Letter sent to local hospital management: According to the MetroWest Daily News, the nurses sent a letter to MetroWest Medical Center CEO John Whitlock Jr. and Chief Nursing Officer Naomi Seymour stating they want to be “real partners with you in setting priorities for our workplace and ensuring a healthy future for Framingham."
Why this is important: Ask anyone who has been to Framingham Union lately, and they will tell you the conditions are getting worse. Organizing will allow the nurses to be part of the MNA, which then gives them the resources to really have a seat at the table with the hospital.
“Framingham deserves better”: Kelley Cutler, RN, was one of the nurses who spoke at last Tuesday’s press conference at the hospital. She said: “I want MWMC to be a place where nurses want to work and where patients feel they can be safely cared for. Framingham and the surrounding towns really need and deserve better.”
"For years, conditions at this hospital have been declining, and I feel that in large part that is because upper management and Tenet's refusal to prioritize the same staffing issues that we need to be implementing. This has also resulted in a lot of employees leaving the hospital and (it) having very low retention rates."
My take: The issues at Framingham Union are at the top of my watchlist. I will continue to write about them until we see major changes. While, yes, we have Boston - a hub of the medical universe - 40 minutes down the Pike and many people seek care at Newton-Wellesley, we cannot forget how important and lucky we are to have a community hospital with an active Emergency Room. We lose that hospital, and thousands of our residents lose access to health care and emergency care.
Our nurses and doctors deserve our support. Against all odds regarding staffing and conditions, they are doing their best to provide the best level of care. One way we can support them is continuing to speak out about how important Framingham Union is to our city and surrounding towns. We cannot ignore it. Silence isn’t an option. It isn’t an option for our seniors who cannot get to Boston or Worcester. It isn’t an option for a woman in labor who needs to get to a hospital fast. It isn’t an option for someone who was in an accident and needs urgent care, or the person who is having a heart attack. We have been down this road with Framingham Union decades ago, and we stepped up then. Now we have to do it again. Our elected officials have to step up. We all have to step up.
Stay tuned. I’m not finished writing about health care in Framingham.
Do You Have Questions for Candidates?
Election season is here again: A number of people have asked me if I am going to do anything regarding the candidates for Council and School Committee. In fact, in my survey, it was the number one requested new feature to add to the newsletter.
My plan: I will dedicate two issues (more if needed) to featuring a Q&A with each of the candidates - opposed and unopposed. It is import we all know who these individuals are and what they hope to do in their next term. All candidates will receive the same questions and will include questions specific on their district.
How you can help: What questions do you have for the candidates? I’d love to read your suggestions. Please note due to the limits of space, not every question will be asked. I will use my editorial discretion. I will pick from your suggestions to include with my own questions.
Please send any questions to me by this Friday, September 22.
Community Events
Help Clean Cochituate Brook Reservation
Conservation Commission with the Public Land store in Framingham are co-hosting a National Public Lands Day event. The fourth Saturday in September is National Public Lands Day, the largest single-day volunteer event dedicated to public lands.
Join them and other trails enthusiasts by volunteering to improve the Cochituate Brook Reservation in Framingham. They will be making trail improvements, removing invasive plants, and picking up trash.
Please park at the TJX office park located at 500 Old Connecticut Path.
The Cochituate Brook Reservation is a 27-acre, wooded piece of land along the banks of the Cochituate Brook. It has many miles of trails for hiking and connects to more trails in the adjacent state park. There also are imminent plans to connect it to a new rail trail as well.
For more information, including what volunteers should bring, visit the event website.
Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day
The City of Framingham Department of Public Works (DPW) will host a household hazardous waste collection day on Saturday, September 23, at the DPW Operations Center at 100 Western Avenue.
Residents can bring their household hazardous waste to be disposed of properly from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This event is open to all Framingham Residents, and proof of residency will be required to attend.
The Civic Week Ahead
Tuesday, September 19
Wednesday, September 20
4:00 pm: Board of Assessors Agenda
5:30 pm: Veteran's Council Agenda
6:00 pm: Utility Pole Task Force Agenda
6:00 pm: School Committee Executive Session Agenda
6:00 pm: Charter Review Committee- Communications Subcommittee Agenda
6:00 pm: King Elementary School Council Agenda
7:00 pm: School Committee Agenda
7:00 pm: Conservation Commission Agenda
Thursday, September 21
Thank you to everyone who has taken my reader survey so far. The feedback is very valuable, and I am so glad an overwhelming majority of you have found The Ham’er to be helpful and informative. The survey is still open - because I love the ideas I am receiving - so if you haven’t filled it out yet, there is still time.
The best way you can help me is sharing The Ham’er with people who would find it interesting. We are really lacking for news in this city. The issues facing us are important and ever changing. Let’s continue to build our community we have here and add more people to keep the conversation going.
Have a great week,
Mary Kate
My husband had to wait 40 hours in the emergency room before they were able to find him a bed. His nurses in the ER were excellent and apologetic, but he was seriously ill when he went into the ER and waiting for 40 hours for a bed to be available is bonkers. When I went to check on him, there were patients in the halls and the waiting room was full. Earlier in the summer, my son was there for a concussion evaluation. There were no pediatric specialists or even a pediatrician available to see him and he saw a neuro with zero bedside manner for kids/teens. When your kid is having an allergic reaction or your spouse is having a heart attack, going 40 minutes down the Pike or Route 9 isn't an option.
Since Tufts took over the cancer center and seems to run the heart center many are waiting to hear that Tufts will take over the full hospital. It already runs several other Mass hospitals
Several nurses both at MetroWest and Tufts in Boston told me this seems to be in the works. Is this all in hush hush mode till various approvals are arranged?
Or can MetroWest be fixed ?
I’ve also heard from patients that the Tenet run St Vincent’s in Worcester is night and day above Metrowest . Why can’t they do it in Framingham ?