Cuts At Foxborough Rehab Center Is A Huge Disservice, Nurse Says

FOXBOROUGH, MA – As a nurse who has worked with patients struggling with substance abuse issues, Maureen Healy understands what can happen if they don’t receive treatment in critical moments.

So at a time when more people are seeking treatment for mental health and addiction that have come about due to stress caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Healy said a recent decision by Steward Good Samaritan Medical Center officials to cut the number of available beds at its NORCAP Lodge addiction treatment center in Foxborough will have a devastating impact on the community.

In addition to cutting the number of available beds from 39 to 26, staffing at the Foxborough facility will also be cut by 30 percent beginning Friday, according to a news release issued by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The staff cuts mean that two nurses per shift will be cut, Healy told Patch on Thursday, which impacts a facility where there are already a shortage of nurses to deal with a patient load that has increased heavily since the start of the pandemic, Healy said. According to the nurses association, the NORCAP Lodge serves more than 2,500 patients each year.

However, officials from Good Samaritan Hospital said that a shift in legislation that moves more substance abuse patients to hospital emergency rooms rather than treatment centers has lessened the case load the NORCAP Lodge sees, which. prompted hospital officials to move personnel to where nurses are needed more, according to Dr. Marisela Marrero, president of Good Samaritan Medical Center.

In 2018, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law that permits emergency department doctors to prescribe buprenorphine-naloxone, a combination drug used in the treatment of those who are addicted to opioids that can both treat and prevent withdrawal symptoms, as well as discourage people from abusing the drug, Marrero said.

While the shift has meant less patients at the NORCAP Lodge, Good Samaritan officials insist there is a critical need for Level IV SUD inpatient beds in Massachusetts, which provide comprehensive, inpatient medical care to patients needing treatment for substance abuse and other co-occurring conditions.

Still, Healy, who works at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton and is the chair of the local bargaining unit that represents NORCAP Lodge, said the announcement to trim the number of beds and nurses in Foxborough seemingly came out of the blue, but may be due to budget constraints caused by the pandemic.

Healy said the facility had temporarily blocked off a number of beds because of social distancing guidelines, but then officials announced the elimination of beds and nurses would be permanent. The timing, Healy said, is not good.

“A lot of times, people who are addicts, they make that decision, ‘OK, I’m going to try to get clean today and they go right to rehab,’” Healy said. “When someone makes that decision that they’re going to attempt to go into rehab, you have to act on it right then. If you (as a nurse) have to say, ‘No – I can’t give you a bed today’ and you send them home, I’ve known people who have overdosed and died as a result of not getting a bed the day they decided they wanted help. So closing beds is always bad news.

“It’s going to be a huge disservice to the community because beds are disappearing all over the place.”

Since the announcement was made that the facility would be cutting back on bed space, the nurses association indicated in the news release that the group has sought assistance from advocacy groups and public officials to help the Foxborough facility maintain its current service load.

Senator Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough) called the decision deeply concerning on many levels, especially now with so many members of the community suffering with struggles in a number of areas made worse by the reality they are experiencing during the pandemic.

“We should be devoting more resources, not less, to ensure that those that seek help, have access to it,” Feeney said in the news release. “I am committed to working with nurses, state and local health officials and other stakeholders to fight for essential detox capacity in our region. It’s literally about life and death.”

To address the need, Steward Health Care is planning to invest more than $10 million to open a new, state-of-the-art substance abuse center at Morton Hospital in Taunton to provide an increased level of care to the growing number of medically complex substance use disorder patients, Marrero said. Despite growing need, there are currently only 173 Level IV beds in Massachusetts – and none serving Southeastern Massachusetts.

Healy said the need for treatment is especially true for many of the patients that find their way to substance abuse centers like the one in Foxborough. In many cases, she said, patients served at the NORCAP Lodge are unemployed, homeless or have no place to turn after they have had family members turn their back on them, which makes last week’s announcement by Good Samaritan Hospital officials even more unfortunate, Healy said.

“How you look at the least among us and how you treat them pretty much shows what kind of person you are or what kind of corporation you are,” Healy said. “Those who can’t speak for themselves are people in that kind of situation…Taking away services like this, especially for the kind of community that they’re talking about…these people really need people with voices to stand up for them.”

This article originally appeared on the Foxborough Patch