Heywood Healthcare scales back urgent care operations at Gardner location

PHOTO | Courtesy of Google Maps Heywood Urgent Care in Gardner

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By Isabel Tehan

Heywood Urgent Care and parent company Heywood Healthcare, which has filed for bankruptcy, are dialing back urgent care offerings at the 266 Main St. location in Gardner. Starting in December, the office will no longer accept same-day walk-in patients for the general public.

Patients with a primary care physician who is a member of the Heywood Medical Group may continue to receive same-day appointments at the office, while other patients will have access to Community Health Connections, South Gardner Community Health and Urgent Care Center and Tully Walk-In Care Center in Athol, according to a statement from Heywood Healthcare.

In October, Heywood Healthcare voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid revenue shortfalls. According to Heywood, the urgent care dial-back is only tangentially related.

“The closure to the general public is not directly related to the Chapter 11 proceedings, however responsible resource management is a key element of sustainability planning,” Dawn Casavant, vice president of strategy and external affairs at Heywood Healthcare, wrote in a Wednesday email to WBJ.

Other availability of seven-day walk-in services in the region factored into the decision to change the Gardner urgent care model, according to Heywood.

“Several factors influenced the decision to discontinue open access to Urgent Care services at 266 Main Street, including the fact that the South Gardner Community Health Center Urgent Care is less than 2 miles from Main Street, maintains adequate capacity, and is open 7 days/week. Additionally, Heywood Medical Group's Tully Walk-In Care Center, in Athol provides 7 day/week Urgent Care Services,” according to the Heywood statement.”