The watchword today is “preparedness.” I can’t help but wonder how much better prepared we would be for the coronavirus crisis if the nurse-to-patient staffing ratios ballot measure had passed in 2018.
Today we would have fully-staffed units across the state rather than the chronically under-staffed situation patients and nurses have been living with for years. It takes months to hire and train qualified nurses to those positions — you cannot do this in two weeks.
The same big hospitals that worked to defeat the initiative are also buying up and shutting down smaller community hospitals. North Adams is closed to inpatient care as this wave approaches us. Baystate is systematically cutting services at hospitals it owns in Greenfield, Westfield and Palmer. These hospitals were founded by and for the communities they served before they were bought up.
Yes, we need the critical services that a major hospital in Springfield provides, but we also need a network of personalized, local care we can rely on. The nurses will give their all in the coming months. Let’s consider giving them and our community hospitals the support they deserve after we have weathered the storm.
Tom Goldscheider
Florence