Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 24, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 5 UMass Memorial sought to buy shuttered Nashoba Valley Medical Center for new ER, but the hospital's property owner declined UMass Memorial Health's first choice to open a standalone emergency room to partially replace the shuttered Nasho- ba Valley Medical Center was simply to purchase the closed facility, but the Worcester-based health system couldn't reach an agreement with the landlord. "e current site was our first option but it did not work out, so we are now focused on other location options," Shelly Hazlett, UMass Memorial direc- tor of media and public relations, wrote in an email to WBJ. Instead, UMass Memorial will un- dertake the presumably much lengthier process of buying new property and building the standalone emergency department. In the meantime, first responders in the Nashoba Valley re- gion are saying emergency services are strained to the breaking point since the 77-bed NVMC hospital closed. e NVMC property owner, New York City-based Apollo Global Man- agement, NVMC's building and land owner, declined to comment on the re- buffed purchase offer. UMass Memorial declined to give details on the offer. NVMC closed on Aug. 31, despite the fervent appeals of government officials, community leaders, and residents. e closure was part of Texas-based Stew- ard's bankruptcy filings, which resulted in the closure of both NVMC and Carney Hospital in Dorchester. Officials from UMass Memorial were part of a 32-person group assembled by Gov. Maura Healey in October to address health care in the Nashoba Valley region following the hospital's closure. In January, UMass Memorial announced its decision to open a stand- alone emergency room in the region. "We understand the challenges that the closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center has caused for the region, and we have been listening closely to the concerns of impacted patients and the legislators that represent them," Hazlett wrote. "We believe this solution can fill the community's critical needs and address their primary areas of concern." UMass economist: State has recovered from COVID, but federal research funding cuts could be catastrophic A prominent Massachusetts econo- mist said the state's economy has recov- ered since the COVID-19 pandemic, but he joined a growing chorus of voices expressing concerns about the impact of federal funding cuts and other proposed President Donald Trump Adminis- tration policies on the Massachusetts economy. Speaking at Worcester Business Journal's Economic Forecast & Central Mass Real Estate Forum on Feb. 11, Mark Melnik said both proposed cuts to federal research funding provided by the National Institutes of Health and potential H-1B visa reform could have a significant negative impact on the state's economy. Melnik is the UMass Dona- hue Institute director of economic & public policy research. With Massachusetts third in the nation for H-1B visas per capita and leading the nation in receiving federal research and development funding per capita in 2024, Melnik said proposed cuts to funding and reform of the coun- try's immigration policies could have a Use the Rainy Day Fund on unemployment shortfall Just before President Donald Trump's inauguration, the Gov. Maura Healey administra- tion struck a deal to pay the federal government $2.1 billion for an error made under her predecessor, in which COVID pandemic funds were improperly used to cover some unem- ployment benefits. Even without this extra burden, the Massachusetts unemployment insurance fund was set to be insolvent by late 2027 due to more structural problems, as well as typically having the best unemployment benefits in the country. The unemploy- ment insurance fund is typically paid for by taxes and fees on employers, although with the extra $2.1 billion from Healey's deal, business associations are asking the state to consider using some of its $8.83 billion Commonwealth Stabilization Fund, colloquially known as the Rainy Day Fund, to stabilize the unemployment system and minimize the extra burden on employers. When polled online, a supermajority of WBJ readers said the Commonwealth should use the fund to help stabilize the unemployment system. Should Massachusetts dip into its $9-billion Rainy Day Fund to help stabilize its unemployment system? 34% particularly strong impact in the region. "Changes in NIH funding could be catastrophic with the state, because it really drives a lot of what's happening at the colleges and universities and the hospitals," Melnik said during his key- note address at the forum. Men's pre-professional soccer team launching in Worcester, roster to include Holy Cross athletes One year before the return of the men's FIFA World Cup competition to the United States, a local soccer orga- nization is launching a new pre-pro- fessional team, which will play home games in Worcester. New England Futbol Club, a Men- don-based, not-for-profit youth soccer organization, is launching a men's soccer team, which will start play this May in USL League Two (USL2). USL2 is a 144-team league meant to serve as a training ground for college-age players with professional dreams, similar to the opportunity pro- vided by the Worcester Bravehearts in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. USL2 is part of the United Soccer League, an organization which runs three men's leagues, two women's leagues, and a youth league featuring more than 250 soccer clubs across the country. "It was just the next evolution for our club," said Jason Braga, vice president of NEFC. "is year we'll be doing the men's side, and the following year we'll be launching a women's side. We've been really successful up until about under-19, on the men's and the wom- en's side, and then we've been hosting an under-23 program locally. It's just got to the point where we were ready to make the jump into a more competitive environment." NEFC plans on playing four of its five home games at Alumni Stadium on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a venue with a listed capacity of 2,000. One game will be played at Oliver Ames High School in Easton, closer to a large portion of NEFC's youth membership. e team will be known as New England FC and will play a schedule against other teams in the nine-team Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference. NEFC's first home game at WPI is scheduled to kick off on May 31 at 7:00 p.m. A full schedule can be found here. e three other home games at WPI are scheduled for June 8, June 11, and June 14, while the Easton-hosted game is scheduled for June 21. e league has playoffs, with the 2024 playoffs featuring a 32-team bracket. Season tickets will be available for $75 and include a commemorative inaugural season T-shirt. Single game admission Audra Sprague, an emergency room nurse at Nashoba Valley Medical Center, stands with a cohort of her coworkers and supporters outside of the hospital. Yes, the Rainy Day Fund should be used to cover the entire $2.1-billion federal payback plan. Partially, some of the Rainy Day Fund should be used, along with other compromises by businesses and labor groups. No, the Rainy Day Fund is too important to the state government's overall financial stability to be used like this. 43% 23% Continued on next page

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