Boston - Governor Maura Healey is demanding that Steward Health Care pay severance for Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center workers as part of any Massachusetts sales.  

“The nurses, health workers and staff at Carney and Nashoba have been the heart and soul of these hospitals and communities, working day after day to provide care and comfort to patients in need,” said Governor Healey. “Steward must keep its commitments and make good on all severance payments to these workers as part of any Massachusetts sales. We are insisting on worker severance in our negotiations and will insist on severance funding to the Bankruptcy Court if that’s what it takes.

We are also bringing a sense of urgency to supporting workers and connecting them to new jobs as soon as possible. There are thousands of available health care jobs in Massachusetts right now. We want to ensure that every worker who wants a job, finds a job – and our administration won’t stop until that happens. 

The communities and workers of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center are rightly upset about the closure of these hospitals. I am too. I want people to know that we are committed to doing all we can to safely transition care, help workers, and fix this mess that Steward created.”

Since the announcement of the closures, the Healey-Driscoll administration has been providing support and job protections for workers. That includes:

- Committing $30 million to ensure the hospitals remain open and are funding payroll for an additional 30 days through August 31.
- The Office of Labor and Workforce Development has been onsite at Nashoba and Carney to meet with workers and connect them with jobs.
- The administration has connected directly with over 450 workers and are providing them with job services and connecting them with available jobs. They will be meeting with more workers in the coming weeks.
- In the next two weeks, MassHire Rapid Response will host job fairs at both Carney and Nashoba. The job fairs will include more than 40 health care employers in Massachusetts looking for talent.