Massachusetts coalition launches campaign to preserve bed access

A coalition of registered nurses with the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), along with patients, families, advocates and elected officials who have been fighting for the preservation of mental health beds across Western Massachusetts, has launched a new campaign, “Mental Health is Public Health,” to save essential inpatient psychiatric services, according to a March 16 news release. The effort comes as Trinity Health plans to close 74 pediatric and adult psychiatric beds at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke; Baystate Health seeks the closure of all its mental health beds in Greenfield, Palmer and Westfield; and COVID‐19 places additional pressure on already‐strained emergency departments and other hospital services throughout the region. “These proposed closures would devastate an already‐strained mental health system,” said Cindy Chaplin, RN at Providence and co‐chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee. “Right now, we need to maximize capacity in emergency departments and other hospital units, not decrease services. When everyone else in Massachusetts agrees we should be making it easier for patients to get high‐quality mental healthcare, Trinity Health is going in the opposite direction.”