Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal • 2 022 Economic Forecast 23 We've got you. MAKE YOUR MARK! COMMERCIAL LENDING BY SCU. banking | lending | local Let's Talk. 888.599.2265 southbridgecu.com Membership to SCU requires a one-time interest-earning deposit of $5.00 in a prime share account. Equal Housing Opportunity. Equal Opportunity Employer. Federally insured by NCUA. NMLS #616673. H E A LT H C A R E Gov. Baker tells Saint Vincent to end strike In a Tweet in late September, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told Saint Vincent Hospital and the Massachusetts Nurses Association union to end the strike ongoing at the Worcester healthcare facility since March 8. "e Commonwealth needs every available healthcare resource fully operational while we are responding to this pandemic. It's time for both parties to get back to the table and reach consensus at St. Vincent's Hospital," Baker said on his official Twitter account, @MassGovernor. e strike has been blamed for the hospital bed and healthcare staffing shortage in Central Massachusetts, which -- among other ramifications -- led in part to UMass Memorial Health to run out of intensive care unit beds this week throughout its entire system in Worcester, Leominster, Clinton, Southbridge, and Marlborough, amid the latest spike in coronavirus cases. Top healthcare stories from 2021 Saint Vincent closed 100 beds at the Worcester hospital in August, blaming the lack of resources created by the 800 MNA members going on strike, over patient-to-nurse staffing ratios. e two sides have since agreed on staffing ratios, but the latest sticking point is whether the MNA members still on strike can return to their same positions and shis. Saint Vincent has said all will return to jobs at the hospital, but not necessarily the same jobs. UMass Medical changes name after $175M gift Mass Medical School in Worcester will receive a $175-million donation over the next five years from e Morningside Foundation, significantly growing the medical school's endow- ment and prompting a name change, aer the donors. UMass Medical School will be renamed the UMass Chan Medical School in recognition of e Morning- side Foundation's founders, the Chan family of Hong Kong, who launched the venture capital and private equity firm in 1986, per its website. UMass' three graduate schools will be renamed the T.H. Chan School of Med- icine, aer the late patriarch of the fam- ily, the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, aer the family's matriarch, and the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. e gi is unrestricted, according to the school's announcement, meaning UMass can do what it wants with the money. e medical school endow- ment is currently $200 million, and the Morningside Foundation gi will add $35 million annually for five years, said UMass Medical School spokeswoman Sarah Wiley. Mass. hits highest COVID case numbers in one day since January On Dec. 1, the Massachusetts De- partment of Health confirmed 4,838 new COVID-19 cases, and 25 COVID deaths, marking the highest COVID case numbers reached in one day in the state since Jan. 22. e new figure brings the total num- ber of confirmed COVID cases since the start of the pandemic to 860,280, resulting in 19,016 deaths. e numbers show an increase in positive cases with the 7-day average percent positivity of molecular tests reaching 5.14%, per the Mass. DPH's COVID-19 Interactive Data Dash- board. Since the start of the pandemic, Worcester County has confirmed 105,344 total COVID case numbers. Over the last 14 days, Worcester Coun- ty has reported an increase in positive case numbers with 4,753 cases result- ing in an average of 40.5 per day. Gov. Charlie Baker receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. PHOTO | STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE W

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