Norwood Hospital

Last updated
Norwood Hospital
Steward Health Care System
Steward Norwood Hospital Logo 2024.png
Norwood Hospital
Geography
Location Norwood, Massachusetts, United States
Organization
Care system Private
Funding For-profit hospital
Type Community
Services
Emergency department Yes
Beds231
Helipads
Helipad Yes
NumberLengthSurface
ftm
Concrete
History
Opened1919
ClosedJune 2020
Links
Lists Hospitals in Massachusetts

Norwood Hospital was a small for-profit community hospital in Norwood, Massachusetts. [1] A member of Steward Health Care, the hospital was evacuated and closed after a significant June 2020 rainstorm led to destructive flooding. [2] While reconstruction was started to reopen the hospital, work halted in February 2024 amid reports of financial instability and unpaid bills across the Steward Health Care System. [3]

Contents

History

Norwood Hospital's roots lie in a medical practice created around the turn of the 20th century. In the 1900s, the small town and surrounding communities were first served by a small practice housed in the home of local physician Eben C. Norton. [4] Sometime in that same decade, local German immigrant Anna Groote began taking patients into her family's home in the town's Germantown neighborhood. Anna was eventually joined by Dr. Thomas O'Toole, who oversaw what came to be known as the Wilson Street Hospital as it grew into the 1910s. Groote's hospital eventually expanded to include patient rooms, a nursery, and an operating room. [5]

In 1913, Dr. Norton's practice was purchased by prominent Norwood citizen George Willett, known for contributing financially and intellectually to Norwood's development. Willett combined Norton's practice with the "Old Corner House," a two-family residence which Willett had purchased earlier as part of a civic project. Together, the new health center consisted of 23 patient beds, an operating theater, and dental and eye clinics. [4]

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic hit the local immigrant population hard, and Groote's Wilson Street Hospital was forced to close. [6] Around this time, demand for care at Willett's hospital surged, [6] necessitating the use of the town's civic association building to hold overflow patients. [4] Seeing the need for an expansion of the facility, a group of citizens formed to create the Norwood Hospital Corporation, which took over Willett's facility in 1919 and began plans for growth. [4]

The newly formed Norwood Hospital remained housed across the Corner House and Dr. Norton's former residence until 1926. The previous year, a fundraiser was held with a $200,000 goal to fund the construction of a new hospital complex, which exceeded its goal by more than $50,000. [7] The new hospital was built behind the old facility, could hold 75 patients, and housed an emergency room, an isolation room, a pharmacy, an operating room, and a maternity ward, as well as several general inpatient beds split into men's and women's wards. [7] Betty Eicke, a nurse trained at Salem Hospital and who had served as superintendent at Lawrence General Hospital, was appointed as the first superintendant of the new hospital. [7] The new building officially opened on September 1, 1926. [8]

In 1982, Norwood Hospital formed the Neponset Valley Health System, a regional health care system which would come to include a multitude of facilities of varying specialties, including the Southwood Community Hospital in Norfolk, the Foxboro Area Health Center, the NORCAP Center for Alcoholism, and Norfolk-Bristol Home Health Services, among others. [4] The health system was purchased by Caritas Christi Health Care in 1997, [4] which in turn was purchased by Steward Health Care System in 2010, marking the hospital's transition from non-profit to for-profit. [9]

In 2016, the hospital's property was sold by Steward to Medical Properties Trust, along with the vast majority of the hospital system's real estate nationwide. The sale was part of a sale-leaseback deal which would see a large influx in cash for the hospital system to pay for national expansion and investor dividends, in exchange entering the hospitals into triple-net leases. [10]

Norwood Hospital, steel frame. July 2023 NorwoodHosp23.jpg
Norwood Hospital, steel frame. July 2023

On June 28, 2020, a significant rain storm struck the region, dropping four inches of rain within 90 minutes. [11] Norwood hospital itself saw extensive damage, suffering a power outage and the destruction of its backup generators. The hospital was forced to fully evacuate, with over 100 patients being transported to other hospitals. Footage from security cameras later circulated showing flood waters breaching a door and surging through a first floor hallway. [12] Due to the extent of the damage, Steward Health Care announced that the hospital would have to be rebuilt. The hospital was demolished in 2022, [13] and construction on the new hospital began, expected to cost about $375 million. [3]

However, the start of 2024 was marked by financial turmoil for Norwood Hospital's parent organization Steward Health Care, which faced mounting reports of unpaid bills to vendors across the country, in addition to $50 million in unpaid rent on its hospitals to Medical Properties Trust. Inability to pay contractors led to a halt of construction on Norwood Hospital, [3] and Steward later stated that the hospital was one of several Massachusetts hospitals the system was looking to sell in their exit from the Massachusetts healthcare market. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass General Brigham</span> Health care system based in Greater Boston, Massachusetts

Mass General Brigham is a not-for-profit, integrated health care system that is a national leader in medical research, teaching, and patient care. It is the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the United States, with annual funding of more than $2 billion. The system's annual revenue was nearly $18 billion in 2022. It is also an educational institution, founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. The system provides clinical care through two academic hospitals, three specialty hospitals, seven community hospitals, home care services, a health insurance plan, and a robust network of specialty practices, urgent care facilities, and outpatient clinics/surgical centers. It is the largest private employer in Massachusetts. In 2023, the system reported that from 2017–2021 its overall economic impact was $53.4 billion – more than the annual state budget.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigham and Women's Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two founding members of Mass General Brigham, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts. Robert Higgins, MD, MSHA serves as the hospital's current president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ochsner Baptist Medical Center</span> Hospital in Louisiana, United States

Ochsner Baptist Medical Center is a hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. The complex of hospital buildings is located on Napoleon Avenue in Uptown New Orleans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danbury Hospital</span> Hospital in Connecticut, United States

Danbury Hospital is a 456-bed hospital in Danbury, Connecticut serving patients in Fairfield County, Connecticut, as well as Westchester County and Putnam County, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carney Hospital</span> Community hospital in Dorchester, Massachusetts

Carney Hospital is a small for-profit community teaching hospital located in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is owned and operated by Dallas-based Steward Health Care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center</span> Hospital in Maryland USA, founded 1979

Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center is a 266-licensed bed acute care facility located in Rockville, Maryland. Shady Grove Medical Center provides a range of health services to the community such as high-risk obstetrical care, cardiac and vascular care, oncology services, orthopedic care, surgical services and pediatric care. Opened in 1979 as Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Shady Grove Medical Center operates as part of Adventist HealthCare, a health-care delivery system that includes hospitals, home health agencies and other health-care services. Adventist HealthCare is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letterkenny University Hospital</span> Hospital in County Donegal, Ireland

Letterkenny University Hospital is a general hospital at Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. One of Ireland's busiest, the campus is divided by a main road heading on towards the North/West of Donegal on the N56 road (Ireland). A teaching hospital, it maintains links with the University of Galway, ATU Letterkenny and the Royal College of Surgeons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Elizabeth's Medical Center (Boston)</span> Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts

St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is a mid-size for-profit teaching hospital located in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. St. Elizabeth's is a part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care System, a private, for-profit health care system which took over the hospital in 2010 as part of its acquisition of the non-profit Caritas Christi Health Care system from the Archdiocese of Boston.

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a healthcare provider in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston's metro-north communities in Massachusetts. CHA offers services including primary care, specialty care, and mental health/substance use services. It includes two acute care hospitals, primary care and specialty practice facilities, and the Cambridge Public Health Department. CHA maintains an affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is a Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate.

CHA Everett Hospital is a 162-bed medical/surgical and psychiatric hospital in Everett, Massachusetts. It is one of three hospitals in Cambridge Health Alliance.

Quincy Medical Center was a small for-profit community hospital located in Quincy, Massachusetts for 124 years, from 1890 to 2014. A municipal hospital for most of its existence, it transitioned to non-profit in 1999 and then for-profit when it was purchased by Steward Health Care in 2011. It was closed in 2014 due to year of financial difficulties, though Steward's nearby Carney Hospital continued to operate the former hospital's ED as a stand-alone on the same site until 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MelroseWakefield Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

MelroseWakefield Hospital is a 174-bed non-profit hospital located in Melrose, Massachusetts. MelroseWakefield Hospital and Lawrence Memorial Hospital of Medford function as one hospital entity with two campus locations. The MelroseWakefield Hospital campus provides many different areas of inpatient patient care including general surgery, interventional cardiovascular services, gynecology, maternity, special care nursery, orthopedics, and urology. It also offers outpatient care such as same day surgery, endoscopy, imaging and emergency services as well as serving as the region's Level III Trauma Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hospital</span> Health care facility with specialized staff and equipment

A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire and accident victims to a sudden illness. A district hospital typically is the major health care facility in its region, with many beds for intensive care and additional beds for patients who need long-term care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Health (Livonia, Michigan)</span> American health system

Trinity Health is an American not-for-profit Catholic health system operating 92 hospitals in 22 states, including 120 continuing care locations encompassing home care, hospice, PACE and senior living facilities. Based in Livonia, Michigan, Trinity Health employs more than 120,000 people including 5,300 physicians.

Baystate Health is a not-for-profit integrated health system headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, serving Western Massachusetts and the Knowledge Corridor Region of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The system has 5 hospitals, over 80 medical practices, and 25 reference laboratories. With 12,000 employees including 1,600 physicians, it is one of Massachusetts' largest employers. Baystate also owns the for-profit insurer Health New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UMass Memorial Health</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

UMass Memorial Health (UMM Health) is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central Massachusetts. It is a not-for-profit/nonprofit healthcare network providing all levels of primary to quartenary healthcare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steward Health Care System</span> US for-profit healthcare system

Steward Health Care is a large private for-profit health system headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It utilizes an integrated care model to deliver healthcare across its hospitals and primary care locations, as well as through its managed care and health insurance services. As of the start of 2024, Steward operated 33 hospitals and employed 33,000 people in the United States. Steward's international ventures include Steward Colombia, which operates 4 hospitals, and Steward Middle East, which operates in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Adventist HealthCare is a not-for-profit health services organization based in Gaithersburg, Maryland that employs more than 6,000 people and provides healthcare for more than 400,000 individuals in the community each year. The primary service area for Adventist HealthCare is the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts was part of an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The first confirmed case was reported on February 1, 2020, and the number of cases began increasing rapidly on March 5. Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency on March 10. By March 12, more than a hundred people had tested positive for the virus. Massachusetts experienced a first wave of COVID-19 that peaked in late April 2020, with almost 4,000 people hospitalized with the disease, and a rolling seven-day average of 2,300 new confirmed cases and 175 confirmed deaths a day. A second wave began in the autumn of the same year and peaked in January 2021, seeing higher daily case numbers but fewer deaths and hospitalizations than the first wave. There was a smaller third spike of increased cases and hospitalizations in March and April 2021, which resulted in significantly fewer deaths than the first two waves. A fourth wave began in July and August 2021. Another wave occurred in the winter of 2021 to 2022, coinciding with the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the state, and exceeding the peak number of cases in any previous wave. As of January 13, 2022, Massachusetts was experiencing a rolling average of 13,314 new confirmed cases and 43 confirmed deaths per day.

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts.

References

  1. ↑ "FY2022 Massachusetts Hospital Profiles" (PDF). Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 15, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  2. ↑ Edelman, Larry (April 12, 2024). "Norwood lawmaker presses Governor Healey to facilitate a deal to reopen local Steward hospital". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 12, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Bartlette, Jessica; Nayar, Suchita (February 21, 2024). "Norwood hospital construction on pause as vendors await payments from Steward". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 4, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fanning, Patricia J. (2002). Norwood: A History. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   0-7385-2404-2.
  5. ↑ Gambon, Mary Ellen (April 5, 2022). "Norwood Historical Society Chooses April "Wonderful Women Of Norwood"". Patch. Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Kearney, Laurie. "Germantown Points of Interest". Norwood Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 "This Day in Norwood History - August 31, 1926 - Norwood Hospital To Be Opened For Inspection". Norwood Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  8. ↑ "This Day in Norwood History - September 2, 1926 - More Than 2500 Attend Norwood Hospital Opening". Norwood Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 28, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  9. ↑ McGrory, Brian (February 2, 2024). "As Steward hospitals teeter, CEO's $40 million yacht is docked in the Galapagos Islands". Archived from the original on February 14, 2024. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  10. ↑ Hospital Ownership and Financial Stability: A Matched Case Comparison of a Non-Profit and Private Equity Owned Health System. Center for Economic and Policy Research (Report). Emerald Publishing. 2021. Archived from the original on February 14, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Two years after catastrophic flood, Norwood Hospital is being demolished to make way for new building". WCVB. June 28, 2022. Archived from the original on February 1, 2024. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  12. ↑ Fitzsimons, Tim (September 3, 2020). "Video shows floodwaters surging through Massachusetts hospital that now remains closed". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Two years after catastrophic flood, Norwood Hospital is being demolished to make way for new building". WCVB 5. January 28, 2022. Archived from the original on February 1, 2024. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Steward announces 'significant' funding to stabilize health care company, keep hospitals open". 2 February 2024. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024.

42°11′20.25″N71°12′06.18″W / 42.1889583°N 71.2017167°W / 42.1889583; -71.2017167


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.