Taunton Hospital designated care center for COVID-19 patients only, emergency room remains open

BOSTON, MA – Steward Health Care has recently made moves to balance the need of accommodating the rise in COVID-19 patients across Massachusetts, while maintaining care for patients.

In March, Steward designated Carney Hospital as a “Dedicated Care Center” for COVID-19 positive patients in need of inpatient care at Steward hospitals in Massachusetts.

In line with this strategy, beginning on Saturday, April 4, Steward Health Care’s Northeast division will begin to transform Morton Hospital in Taunton into a second “Dedicated Care Center” for treating patients who test positive for COVID-19.

According to a Steward spokesperson, the emergency Department will remain open to all patients and fully operational, with no changes to emergency services.

In addition, Holy Family Hospital will consolidate inpatient intensive care admissions by redeploying staff and resources from its Haverhill campus to the Methuen campus intensive care unit over the next few days. Steward is also temporarily suspending inpatient intensive care admissions at Nashoba Valley Medical Center and redeployed equipment and staff to communities experiencing increased need.

“We saw early on in other geographies that traditional models of care delivery were ineffective in battling the surge of COVID-19. We needed to learn lessons from Italy and China. And we needed to move fast,” said Dr. Joseph Weinstein, MD, Chief Medical Officer f or Steward Health Care. “Obviously, an effective response to COVID-19 required change, and we know change can be difficult. But patients and the health of our communities needed to come first.”

Nurses from Steward Health Care hospitals in Arizona and Utah began arriving in Massachusetts this week to help with these changes and the anticipated surge. The volunteers bring with them special skills and training to care for COVID-19 patients. In addition, more than one hundred nurses from other Steward Health Care facilities in Massachusetts – including Saint Anne’s Hospital (Fall River), Holy Family Hospital (Haverhill), Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center (Boston), Nashoba Valley Medical Center (Ayer) and Good Samaritan Medical (Brockton) – have already volunteered to be temporarily reassigned to hospitals in communities with the greatest need.

“We are continually impressed with the care and dedication of our frontline providers and are committed to ensuring that have they the resources they need in battling this global pandemic,” said Dr. Mark Girard, MD, North Region President for Steward Health Care. “We are particularly thankful to those nurses – from this state and across the country – who have already volunteered to provide direct care for those afflicted with COVID-19 in our Massachusetts hospitals.”

In a statement, Steward states that these actions will serve three important purposes. First, by locating COVID-19 patients in a focused environment, Steward can better dedicate the necessary resources, equipment and expertise to provide COVID-19 patients focused care and the very best opportunity for a full recovery. Second, similar models have proven to reduce COVID-19 mortality rates. Finally, it provides capacity at Steward’s other hospitals in Massachusetts to continue caring for other patients who are sick, who are mid-course in treatments, who are in chronic pain and who need high-quality care. This approach also ensures that non-COVID-19 patients continue to receive necessary treatment of acute conditions.

“We knew this unprecedented public health crisis necessitated an unprecedented response in health care delivery,” said Dr. Girard. “To give our patients the best odds of recovery – and survival – we must be agile and flexible as we allocate staff and equipment to combat this challenge.”