Tewksbury Hospital Budget Restored

Despite several lengthy hearings and opposition Representative James Miceli, as promised, triumphed to restore funding to the operating account of the Tewksbury State Hospital.

The operating expenditure line item, integral to the everyday operation of the facility, was initially projected to receive $154 million dollars under Governor Baker’s budget; the first of three budget proposals to be revealed during the annual budgeting process. Under the House Ways and Means budget released on April 15, the second of the proposed budgets in the series, the line item would stand to receive $158 million after Representative Miceli’s continued championing.

Last month Miceli told Tewksbury Patch he was going to be relentless on this issue saying “The (Governor’s) administration knows I would fight them aggressively on this issue because I don’t see how see how someone can just lay off the workers and move the patients like chess pieces. I have been involved with similar issues and the past, and you simply can’t give quality treatment after making such dramatic cuts. I will be looking forward to discussing Secretary of Health and Human Services, Marylou Sudders at our hearing in Springfield.”

On Wednesday, the representative’s relentlessness paid off.

“I am pleased that I, Chairman Brian Dempsey, and the Ways and Means Committee was able to restore this funding at such a significant amount. This money is well-used and deserved. I know, as does anyone who has ever interacted with Tewksbury Hospital, that this money goes to directly treat the frailest citizens of our state. Without this money, an entire ward would have been closed and consolidated and a number of geriatric patients would have been discharged to other hospitals, or even worse, and a significant number of employees would have been sent home despite their terrific job-performance.” said Representative Miceli upon the unveiling of the budget. “We have developed a balanced budget that displays financial discipline, but removing resources from a hospital that generates revenue, while helping those in a dire situation through no fault of their own, just does not make fiscal or moral sense. I am pleased to have played the leading role in resolving the matter, and thank the Chair and fellow committee members for supporting the hospital.”

Representative Miceli raised his concerns on the line item over several Ways and Means Committee hearings across the state, including Springfield, Boston, Methuen, and Everett. Guarding the hospital jealously, Representative Miceli and the committee listened to testimony and asked questions of various officials charged with running the Department of Public Health. Such officials included Secretary of Health and Human Services Mary Lou Sudders, and Commission of Public Health Monica Bharel, who briefed legislators on matters including budget projections, department projects, and cost-control measures. Upon hearing testimony, including discharge plans for geriatric and Alzheimer’s patients, the line item was adjusted to prevent such a tragedy.

Tewksbury State Hospital, operating since 1854, is a joint campus consisting of wards under the supervision of the Department of Public Health and the Department of Mental Health. Spanning hundreds of acres and encompassing dozens of buildings, public health officials care for and supervise 220 chronic health patients with matters ranging from severe head injuries to those with adult developmental disabilities. The average patient has been denied treatment elsewhere three times before due to the severity of their issue, or lack of ability to treat such issues elsewhere.