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Canton officials, state reps urge Healey to reverse decision to close children’s facility
Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children has served children in the Commonwealth with severe disabilities since 1904.
Canton town officials and state legislators came together Friday to call on Gov. Maura Healey to reconsider the decision to close a local rehabilitation hospital.
“The Pappas Rehabilitation Center, formerly the Massachusetts Hospital School, has cared for the Commonwealth’s most severely disabled children since 1904,” Canton Town Administrator Charles Doody said in a statement.
“We’d like to see it remain open for another 120 years,” Doody said.
The facility sits on a 160-acre land that includes a barn and stable for its horses, an accessible swimming pool, and a waterfront with boats, according to a 2019 promotional video. For its current 36 patients, the hospital provides tailored education, therapy services, and an equipment shop for wheelchairs or specialized eating utensils.
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The Department of Public Health announced on Jan. 22 its intent to relocate services to Western Massachusetts due to the Canton facility’s inability “to accommodate the kind of technology and high-acuity care that many children with significant disabilities need,” as assessed by state studies and reviews.
“This is a necessary move to meet the complex medical needs of the children that Pappas serves by providing them with a modernized, specialized facility,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein in the statement.
Officials eyed Western Massachusetts Hospital in Westfield to accommodate patients from Pappas and ideally, make a full transition over the next six to nine months, the statement said.
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Since then, state, county, and town officials have spoken out to encourage the state to keep Pappas open and to invest more money to repair its run-down conditions. A Change.org petition started by a former employee has garnered more than 16,000 signatures.
Canton Select Board Chair Michael Loughran expressed relief in statement Tuesday, saying that Healey heard officials’ concerns and would reconsider the move.
“I am encouraged and grateful that Gov. Healey has heard the concerns of so many citizens, families, and health care professionals and has indicated a willingness to take another look at the decision to close the facility,” Loughran said in the statement.
In a statement to Boston.com on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Healey wrote, “We all share the same goal of ensuring high-quality, modernized and specialized care for the young people we serve, as well as supporting our hardworking employees. We look forward to continued collaboration on the path forward to provide the best setting for these children.”
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