Newton-Wellesley in Framingham
January 28th, 2009
I know I’m late on this but for anyone who doesn’t know, Newton-Wellesley Hospital is looking to open a facility that will have 4 operating rooms and 4 procedure rooms at the former CompUSA site which ironicly was last used as the home of the Bodies exhibit.
It’s kind of odd that they would want to open a site in Framingham. This will be yet another tax expempt property here in town. I know people have their problems with it, but I’ve always had a good experience at Framingham Union although I have not been in the Emergency room for many years, which I hear most people have their problems.
I feel that Newton-Wellesley is a respected medical facility and that’s great but I wonder if there is enough room for Framingham Union and Newton-Wellesley in the same town.  I guess we’ll find out.
Framingham Union is a good hospital trying to stay alive in a much needed place in our community. If this hospital goes under, there will be a HUGE vacuum for care and need for services, and this community will feel a lot of hurt. Newton-Wellesley is also a really good hospital, but should stay on its own turf so FUH can stay afloat.
Comment by Jeff — January 28, 2009 @ 11:59 pm
I very much agree with Jeff’s comment. I think Newton-Wellesley’s plan to expand into Framingham is mostly a bad idea. I’ve written about this on my blog. The post is entitled “FRAMINGHAM SELECTMEN ARE RIGHT” and is at http://theblogofbobbaril.blogspot.com
Comment by Rev. Bob Baril — January 29, 2009 @ 6:10 am
We’ve only had great care at Framingham Union.
Comment by ptcakes — January 29, 2009 @ 10:44 am
The relative merits of each hospital aside, it’s the tax exempt status of Newton-Wellesley’s proposed facility that I think is most problematic for the town.
My understanding is that as a 24,000 s.f. building, it can generate $100,000 in taxes per year.
Framingham really isn’t a financial position to let this go the way of yet another tax exempt property.
Comment by Matt — January 29, 2009 @ 11:05 am
I will NEVER go to Framingham Union again. It is the most ridiculous, sorry excuse for a hospital; on par with what I’d expect in the podunk wilds of Arkansas. It would be great to have something closer than driving into BIDM.
Comment by mdz — January 29, 2009 @ 8:17 pm
I have had good experiences at Framingham Union, However i am disturbed on how they use learned pond as a dumping ground. I frequently boat on the pond and find chairs, milk crates and other items in the water. Also i have found empty medical waste bags so it makes me wonder if they throw this in the pond as well. Maybe if they close we can knock the building down and replace it with trees and get rid of the parking lot.
FRG
Comment by frank — January 30, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
The few times I have had to go to the emergency room at Framingham Union I have had nothing but good experiences. They are very efficent and attend to you in a timely manor. I have nothing bad to say.
Comment by Tim — January 30, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
frank - maybe the medical waste bags (assuming they were empty), etc. blew out of their trash dumpsters that aren’t too far from the water - on a windy day. as for the crates, etc. that should be looked into by the board of health! you should give them a call or take a picture next time you see something.
Comment by FraminhamMom — January 31, 2009 @ 10:23 am
I have lived in this town for fifty years. MetroWest Medical Center (MWMC) the For Profit Hospital that used to be Framingham Union is an abomination of mismanagement and provides dreadful health care.
While I could recite at least a hundred horror stories about this hospital (many from friends who work there), let’s do a recent one:
I accompanied an elderly person to the ER last month. We were told within ten minutes of being examined in the ER that he/she needed to be admitted. Sixteen hours later they finally put him/her in a room. The ER itself was noisy, things didn’t work, the room he/she was finally admitted to was really designed for one, his/her t.v. was broken and they didn’t get it fixed until he/she was about to be discharged. Because he/she was insured up the wazoo, they tried to schedule him/her for every test imaginable, and only my intercession prevented this waste of an old person’s precious time and insurance resources.
A week later I had to go to an ER myself. While I wasn’t really up to it, I drove to Newton Wellesley ER. Night and day. Prompt, efficient care. Clean room, smart informative staff. For me, to have a New/Well. facility in town is a great opportunity for my personal health care, and a major incentive to the for-profit bastards who mismanage MWMC to provide real health care for our community.
The reality is, of course, our health care system in the USA and here in Mass., is a travesty because it is held hostage by the for-profit insurance companies and the for-profit health industry, of which the owners of MWMC are a part. Until we demand of All Our Elected Crooks that they give us health care for our tax dollars (instead of wars and cash handouts to the rich and well-to-do), we’re all screwed.
Comment by Verite — January 31, 2009 @ 5:04 pm
Framingham Union’s ER department is a disgrace. I have worked in two hospitals and understand the challenges an institution such as this face every day. However, none of it should pass down to the patient. I have had three visits to this establishment and they are disorganized, unprofessional and unfocused. I am appalled at their lack of patient care and mismanagement from administering the wrong medication to just plain neglect. If they go under, it will probably have little to do with Newton Wellesley.
Comment by Tully — February 2, 2009 @ 10:18 am
I have visited the ER multiple times with both of my children and we have had nothing but excellent and timely care.
Comment by georgie — February 2, 2009 @ 11:12 am
I wasn’t going to comment as I don’t know much about the taxing and non profit issue, but I am learning. I do have to say my experiences have been mixed with the Framingham hospital. All emergency visits were 6 plus hours, the usual, and were held up because the nurses and doctors were giving regular doctor visits, ie: phisycals, non emergency care to others, while real emergencies waited in the waiting room. My son’s finger, one visit, was litereally cut in 2 and triage told me I had to wait as I asked for someone to make sure it wasn’t cut in half, with a bike chain. No one would look at it, really, the nurse told us to sit down without looking. Anyway, we all have stories, good and bad, but I think another hospital or at least affordable clinics for people to go to, may step up he care given at the Framingham hospital. Just my 2 cents.
Comment by Carol — February 2, 2009 @ 11:54 am
I have been at both hospitals. NW was far superior especially their new emergency facility. If Metro-west provides such great care and service, why be concerned with the competition. People will choose the better facility. At NW, it was nice to hear people speaking english as their primary language.
Comment by Alex — February 2, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
I think people are missing the boat here.. The proposed facilitywill not be a place that offers walk in care for patients. It will be a facility for NWH to go and have their procedures done - procedures that would have been done in Newton but probably not as quickly. This really isn’t competition for MWMC and patients won’t really be choosing one over the other. I dont think people will be changing doctors just because there is a NWH facility in Framingham.
The Selectmen are way out of their league here and they really have no business asking them to leave.
Lets look at the options.. A vacant building, quickly becoming an eyesore, generating no revenue for nearby businesses or a building which, while it is tax exempt, will be generating other business in Framingham - gas, food, shopping, etc.
Comment by Barry — February 3, 2009 @ 7:08 am
I agree with Barry. We need the business and revenue. Childrens Hospital has space in other buildings in other towns, NW is in Framingham I think, or maybe Natick, just over the line on 135, to have business taken care of. I think it is a good idea.
Comment by Carol — February 4, 2009 @ 8:28 am
My first thought is that if it’s named “Newton Wellesley, it needs to stay in Newton or Wellesley. There’s too much overlapping of services and a waste of money.
Also, I admit to not understanding this tax exempt status thing all the time. But why is a hospital tax exempt? They’re certainly in it for the profit (I can tell when I get a bill). Do they come under the Dover Act?
If the town approves this, they’re nuts!!
Comment by Susie — February 5, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
I’ve been to the ER and had to wait for 4 hours. There were about 5-6 folks who were seen before me. There seem to be at least two doctors and 3-4 nurses so I felt the wait to be long. I’ve also had blood work there several times and the wait can be sometimes none to an hour. On the hour wait, there were two techs and one person in the room… I agree with having someone in the facility than to have it be empty.
Comment by Ray — February 6, 2009 @ 7:43 am
To Carol -
If it needs to stay in Newton or Wellesley, then should any facility be true to its name if that location contains a city. Should Dover Rug be confined to Dover? Southboro Medical has facilities in Framingham.. What about all the banks with cities in their name? It makes little sense and so far no one has come up with an argument why NWH shouldn’t go to that space - all that has been raised is a fear (and an unfounded fear at that) that MW will go out of business. Look at who is really spreading the fear - the two centers aren’t in competition for patients - the new facility won’t be something you can go to when you are feeling ill or need emergency medical care…
Will the Board of Selectmen feel the same way when CVS comes asking for an instore clinic?
Perhaps MW should work on cleaning up their act and figuring out how to provide better service and such.. I’ve used the facility and am amazed at how long it takes to be seen and how long it takes them to send a bill. Here they are complaining about payment practices and they take close to 7 months to send out a bill and when they do, the bill is wrong so it takes another 4-5 months to correct it. Maybe that is part of the problem.
Comment by Barry — February 8, 2009 @ 9:17 am
Hi Barry, I agree with you, I think you have mistaken me for someone else. No, of course it doesn’t need to be true to name. All I am asking for is an ER that will take care of emergencies, not regular doc visits because affordable health care isn’t available to some. Make it a clinic for walk ins. Maybe we need more of them, or have doctors take on more patients and stop enforcing the no new patients. MWMC is fine for in house, just not emergencies.
Comment by Carol — February 9, 2009 @ 7:57 am
Carol -
I am sorry. I meant that comment for Susie, who believes that if the name is Newton Wellesley it should only be in Newton or Wellesley (”My first thought is that if it’s named “Newton Wellesley, it needs to stay in Newton or Wellesley. “)
Comment by Barry — February 9, 2009 @ 8:07 am
As I tried to point out in comment # 4, the biggest issue to the Town is not the competition to MWMH that NW *might* create — that’s the hospital’s concern — but rather the loss of revenue in taxes to Framingham if the Town allows it to be owned by a non-profit (which NW is). We’re talking about a tens-of-thousands of dollars in lost revenue if NW is allowed to consume that space.
As it is, this property is zoned for retail, so the Town would have to make an exception to its designated use.
We can’t afford it.
Comment by Matt — February 10, 2009 @ 11:55 am
Matt -
I would tend to disagree with you. I think the town would be better served by having a tenant in that building space as opposed to just letting it sit vacant - and become a blight on Rte 30 (which it is slowly becoming). Bringing people to the area - for medical purposes and/or employment purposes - will generate revenue in other areas and keep other business from disappearing.
The longer the location stays empty, and with the probable demise of other establishments on Rte 30 via closings, the town cannot afford to control who goes where (nor does the Board have any right to)…
I’d be all for a tax paying entity taking up shop there, but there doesn’t appear to be any that are willing. Find a business that is willing to locate their and survive and Im all for it. Until then, let NWH come and let all their employees and patients patronize Framingham based establishments.
Comment by Barry — February 10, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
Okay. I guess some of us will have to agree to disagree.
To me it’s short term thinking to give up taxable land, especially in premium locations (i.e. right off exit 13). In a couple years the economy will come back, and then that space will, once again, be a prime retail location capable of generating close to $100k in taxes per year as it did in the very recent past. (And, despite how it appears right now, the owner is still paying taxes on the space.) Once NWH gets a hold of it, why would they ever let it go given its location? This is not some defunct lumber yard or gas station that’s buried off of some interior cut through like so many other fallow properties in Framingham.
If NWH does get it, we’re talking, what, 10 operating rooms? I can’t imagine that the docs who do the surgery, or the patients under blade will add that much to the local economy. This facility will not be some comprehensive educational complex with throngs of people looking to eat or shop. It will ikely be a get-in and get-out stopover for employees and patients alike.
Relegating that space forever to a non-taxable locale is just penny-wise and pound foolish.
Comment by Matt — February 10, 2009 @ 10:30 pm
I do not believe town government should be in the business of protecting a for-profit corporation from any kind of “competition.” A reminder, people: MetroWest Medical Center is owned by a for-profit corporation.
As someone who has gone to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for medical care, I would be very happy to have a Newton-Wellesley orthopedic facility in Framingham.
If the town wants retail in that space, my guess is that the town is either going to have to offer some pretty attractive financial incentives or have the building sit as a vacant eyesore for quite awhile in the current economy. Look at all the other retailers closing in the area, and how much additional retail space is coming on the market.
If the issue is loss of tax revenue, has anyone talked to Newton-Wellesley about payments in lieu of taxes?
Comment by Sharon — February 15, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
The Town should be working with Metrowest Medical Center to take over the same space. That would keep the use taxable and would solve two problems for our local hospital, 1. space and 2. keep their feared “competition” out.
I too would like to see that prime piece of property stay on the tax rolls, what are our Selectmen doing to help the process along with a business that they would be happy with? If they are doing nothing, which I suspect, then how can we say who the land can be sold to? Are we heading towards another legal mess?
Comment by Bob — February 18, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
According to today’s paper, NWH is in discussion about PILOT payments to the town (Payment in lieu of taxes). This would replace paid the money currerntly paid in taxes by the property owner and provide direct benefit to the residents of Framingham.
Comment by Barry — February 24, 2009 @ 7:04 am
Noticed when I drove past the other day - looks like it’ll be a Savers soon.
Comment by erinb — April 29, 2010 @ 11:50 am