BROCKTON — Maureen Healy has cared for patients at Good Samaritan Medical Center for 27 years. She was thrilled Friday to learn that Boston Medical Center could take over care.
“I have dedicated my career to being a Good Samaritan, and so have many others,” she said Friday. “Tonight I will celebrate that.”
Good Sam’s current operator, for-profit Steward Health Care, has filed for bankruptcy. Governor Maura Healey announced an agreement in principle Friday under which the nonprofit Boston Medical Center will operate Good Sam and – after a period of state expropriation – Saint Elizabeth’s in Brighton.
The end of the Steward era is now in sight. Good Sam could have been closed instead of sold, as two of Steward’s Bay State hospitals appear set to happen. Healy, co-chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association bargaining unit at Good Sam, said her colleagues are relieved.
“It was really hard for our members and the community not knowing what was going to happen,” she said.
What you should know about selling “High-quality medical care will continue”: Good Sam to be sold to Boston Medical Center
Healy said she already had a good opinion of Boston Medical Center, having worked with them at their psychiatric facility near Good Sam in the former Braemoor nursing home. “I think it will be an excellent hospital to work with and for,” the registered nurse said. “Hopefully they will help us restore our reputation.”
Former Good Sam radiologist is skeptical but hopeful
Dr. Scott Reid, a radiologist who has worked at Good Sam for 16 years, reacted to the news with cautious optimism.
“You wouldn’t think it could be much worse than what is happening right now,” said Reid, who now works at Cambridge Health Alliance. “I hope it works out in the near and distant future.”
Reid said it will be a big challenge for BMC to expand under tremendous pressure. Other Boston-based health systems, such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel, have a history of expansion and regulators trying to make sure those systems don’t get too big.
“This is not an easy thing to do, and it is under time pressure,” said Reid. “In the big picture, you would think that the state could reorient the hospitals’ social safety net in this way.”
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