To the Editor;
On Monday, September 26th, Southcoast Health razed the Tobey Homestead and on Wednesday, September 28th, they ‘announced’ the closing of Tobey’s Makepeace Center for Women and Families at the end of the year. A coincidence of timing?
I have to wonder the rationale behind this sudden closure, beyond the cost savings. There must have been a master plan to do so for some time, especially considering the 14 million dollar expansion to St. Luke’s Maternity Center.
Yes, Tobey is a small community hospital with less than 500 annual births. But the key word here is ‘community’. Southcoast is slowly, but systematically, dismantling what makes our local hospital so special to the community it serves.
I will forever be grateful to the Makepeace Family, to the incredible doctors, compassionate maternity nurses, and to the special midwifery program, for making maternity care such an integral part of Tobey and the communities they have served since 1940. It is painful when ‘business’ decisions are made with what appears to be a disregard for how it ultimately affects patients and the medical care they receive locally.
Nancy McFadden, Marion
The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wandererwill gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wandererreserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderermay choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wandererhas the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wandereralso reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.