Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | October 6, 2025 | wbjournal.com BY MICA KANNER-MASCOLO WBJ Staff Writer E ight months aer UMass Me- morial Health unveiled plans to open a satellite emergency department to help fill the emergency care gap le by the 2024 closure of Ayer's Nashoba Valley Medical Center, the Worcester-based healthcare system has begun construc- tion on the Groton facility. UMass Memorial's site, located at 490 Main St., will offer the same adult and pediatric emergency services provided at conventional traditional emergency departments in addition to a helipad for emergency helicopter transportation and specific imaging services, according to a Sept. 24 press release. e healthcare system expects to open the facility in late 2026. "is site is the culmination of the entire region's vision. It started to become a reality when I first met with the fire and emergency response chiefs earlier this year, asking them, "Where would you put an emergency medical facility?" Dr. Eric Dickson, UMMH president and CEO, said in the release. "Since then, we've collaborated closely about how we could invest in the community to address residents' immediate concerns." UMass Memorial originally began ruminating on plans to support the Nashoba Valley region shortly aer the region's medical center was shut down on Aug. 31 of last year. Nashoba Valley Medical Center's closure came aer its parent company, I N B R I E F $12M upgrade "Through the partnership, we've been able to invest in the state- of-the-art technology, even in the face of all of the financial con- straints that academic medicine and academic health centers are facing right now." Dr. Max Paul Rosen, chair in radiology at UMass Memorial Health, on the Worcester system's $12-million project to upgrade its Worcester outpatient center, including integrating a 13,000-pound MRI, done in partnership with Quincy-based Shields Health Construction grants "This exciting program builds on the municipality's existing efforts to support the certification of minority- and women-owned businesses." Eric Batista, Worcester city manager, on the City's new program offering grants up to $25,000 for certified minority- and woman- owned construction firms. Funds for the program come from the $500,000 awarded to the City in its settlement over how such contractors weren't used in the construction of the Polar Park ballpark. CEO retiring "I will continue to be an advocate for people with disabilities. It's been 50 years of my life." Mary Heafy, president and CEO of The Arc of Opportunity in North Central Massachusetts, on her upcoming retirement after leading the Fitchburg-based nonprofit since 2009 UMass Memorial breaks ground of satellite Nashoba Valley ER, expects to open in 2026 Dallas-based Steward Health Care, filed for bankruptcy in May of 2024 and subsequently announced in July it would shutter Nashoba Valley in 60 days. e now-closed 77-bed medical center, staffed by 164 physicians and 430 nurses, served as the sole hospital in the Nashoba Valley region, meaning its closure le the area's 115,000 residents to travel longer distances in case of a medical emergency. In October, the Gov. Maura Healey Administration announced a 32-per- son working group designed to address healthcare needs in the region following the 60-year-old facility's closure. Group members included hospital, labor, government, and community lead- ers, including U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA), Patricia Pistone, senior director of external affairs, UMass Me- morial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, and Robert Sideleau, fire chief of the City of Leominster. "When Steward abandoned the Nashoba Valley, they le families scared and without the care they depended on, but this community didn't wait for some- one else to fix it. We organized, we got to work, and we found partners who shared our commitment to delivering high quality care close to home," Trahan said in the release. "Today's groundbreaking isn't just about building a new emergen- cy facility – it's about the resilience of a community that refused to be broken by the greed of Steward executives." In March, six months aer Nasho- ba Valley's closure, the working group released a report documenting how the region was struggling with transporta- tion and emergency response concerns. e report noted patient volumes and wait times were rising at neighboring hospitals as they attempted to care for former Nashoba Valley patients, and that medical first responders were facing an average median transport time of 17 minutes, up from the 12-minute median before the hospital shut down. "Massachusetts is the nation's health- care leader, and we need to make sure that's true for every community. is groundbreaking was a celebration of the partnership between the Nashoba Valley community and the state, the resilience of this region, and our collective com- mitment to ensuring that everyone gets the health care they need and deserve," Healey said in the release. W (Above) A rendering of the new satellite emergency department UMass Memorial Health is building in Groton; (right) Gov. Maura Healy speaks at the facility's groundbreaking ceremony. IMAGE | COURTESY OF UMASS MEMORIAL HEALTH PHOTO | COURTESY OF UMASS MEMORIAL HEALTH

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