Health

Petition to save Tufts Children’s Hospital garners over 30,000 signatures

“[Thousands] of children's lives have been saved by the dedicated staff of incredible professionals at Tufts Children's Hospital over the past 100+ years."

Lane Turner / The Boston Globe

By Arianna MacNeill

1 minute to read

Over 31,000 people have signed an online petition in support of keeping Tuft’s Children’s Hospital open.

The petition was started by Tim O’Connell, who started the Tommy’s Place Foundation, which operates a vacation home for children with cancer in Falmouth.

“These hospital administrators should be held accountable for this insulting, ill-advised, inappropriate, and incompassionate decision that lacks any moral integrity whatsoever,” the petition says. “[Thousands] of children’s lives have been saved by the dedicated staff of incredible professionals at Tufts Children’s Hospital over the past 100+ years – why, because of ONE simple reason – they CARE!!”

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Tufts recently announced its plans to close its 41-bed children’s hospital by July 1, with the plan of turning it into an adult ICU and medical/surgical beds citing changing needs.

The decision has also received public backlash — and the hospital support — from doctors, nurses, and patient families, including on social media.

“I was an RN at Tufts from 1986 to 2000 with 10 of those years at The Floating Hospital for [Children] as a clinical research nurse,” Katy Hanlon wrote on Twitter. “My pediatric experience there was one filled with highly skilled colleagues who worked together to bring the best care to children and their families.”

Tuft’s Children’s Hospital has been around for more than century, dating back to 1894 when the Floating Hospital for Children sailed into Boston. The hospital moved off the ship in 1931 and was still called the Floating Hospital until 2020 when it was renamed Tufts Children’s Hospital.

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