AG Heading Back to Court Right Now Seeking Revision of Temporary Restraining Order That Will Allow the CLOSURE of the ED at North Adams Regional Hospital, Leaving the Community With NO Emergency Services! says, Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United

Staff and Community Appalled by the Decision

Plan Stepped Up Occupation at Hospital!

News provided by

Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United

Mar 28, 2014, 01:15 ET

NORTH ADAMS, Mass., March 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- We have just learned that staff from the Attorney General's office are heading back into Superior Court this afternoon to seek a revision to the temporary restraining order issued yesterday that would have kept the emergency department open at North Adams Regional Hospital, following the callous and illegal attempt to close the facility altogether by the Northern Berkshire Board of Trustees. The new order, which is being requested by the attorneys of Northern Berkshire Health and Berkshire Medical Center, would call for immediate closure of the emergency department, in effect closing the entire hospital from providing care to the community.

This is despite the fact that staff are at the hospital ready and willing to provide all services necessary to keep the ED open until a long term solution is found to restore the facility as a full service hospital.

This is a travesty for the community and workforce of Northern Berkshire County. In response efforts are being made to step up the occupation of the hospital, and for increased calls for intervention by the Governor and others to address this public health crisis.

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. The MNA is a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses union in the United States with more than 170,000 members from coast to coast.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060525/NETH016LOGO

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United