Senate Budget Includes $1.5M For Harrington Work
Harrington HealthCare said renovation of its emergency department in Webster could start as early as this fall, thanks in part to a $1.5-million funding provision in the state Senate's fiscal 2014 budget.
The item was approved by the full Senate last week and the Senate budget is moving forward to a joint conference committee. A final budget will be voted on by both the House and Senate before going to Gov. Deval Patrick for approval. Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, told a gathering at the hospital this morning that the provision has strong support from Senate leadership.
"The intent of the funding is to improve public health and safety in the Webster area and also be an incentive to the economic growth of the region," Moore said. "This will help build a first-class emergency department that is available to all, should they have a need to use it."
Harrington said the emergency department at the Webster hospital, formerly Hubbard Regional Hospital, has not had a major renovation since it was built in 1955. The hospital provides care to residents of Webster, Dudley, Oxford and surrounding communities.
Harrington said it had raised $1.3 million of the estimated $8.8 million needed for construction, and an anonymous donor matched that amount, bringing the total to $2.6 million. That anonymous donor would also double the state's contribution, making $5.6 million in funding available and allowing construction to start in the fall, Harrington's president and CEO, Edward Moore, said.
"We have felt that if we get to the halfway point to our $8.8 million goal, we would be able to go to the state Department of Public Health for approval and get a shovel in the ground to start construction," which would last about a year, he said.
Read more
Cancer Care Grows In Central Mass.
HealthAlliance Tops Consumer Reports' Hospital Safety Ranking
Fallon, Reliant Ready For Split On Senior Coverage
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments