I’ve lived in Harvard for 50 years and have always considered Nashoba to be my community hospital. My children have been treated there for many sports-related injuries, including a concussion, broken arm, dislocated thumb, and even a fish hook lodged in my teenage son’s lip. My grandson had stitches there after a sledding accident. I’ve been treated in the emergency room for dehydration, an uncontrolled nosebleed, and an allergic reaction after disturbing a nest of ground hornets. I’ve had cataract surgery there twice.
In the last year of his life, my husband was taken there a number of times with life-threatening complications resulting from cancer treatment. When his doctors at Dana Farber said “take him to the nearest emergency room,” he went by ambulance to Nashoba, and got the most compassionate acute care anyone could ask for.
My main connection with Nashoba now is with the doctors at Nashoba’s medical office building, where I’m treated for glaucoma and retinal swelling. I come in contact with a lot of other patients waiting for treatment there, many of them quite elderly and with few options for alternative care. I’m pretty sure the closing of Nashoba Valley Medical Center would create a gaping hole in what is becoming an increasingly fragile safety net for all of us.
Connie Larrabee
Under Pin Hill Road
