Signs on the doors of Carney Hospital in Dorchester on Sept. 3, 2024 indicate the facility has closed and direct people to the nearest functioning hospital in Milton. Photo by Alison Kuznitz | State House News Service
The vacant Carney Hospital property in Dorchester, which Steward Health Care shuttered to patients last month, should remain a health care facility in the future, Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune said in a television interview that aired this weekend.
Louijeune, echoing comments previously made by Mayor Michelle Wu, outlined her expectations for the Carney site on WCVB’s “On The Record,” program, noting the hospital’s loss has boosted demand at nearby providers, including at Codman Square Health Center.
“We have to make sure that it continues to be a health care facility for our residents,” Louijeune said of Carney’s future.
She described the loss of Carney as a “really big blow to the neighborhood, to so many communities that depended on Carney for culturally competent health care.”
The Healey administration is establishing working groups to navigate the future of Carney and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, another hospital that Steward closed as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission and co-chair of the Carney group, said the city will work with state leaders and other stakeholders to “ensure that the former Carney hospital site remains a necessary resource for health and wellness for our city’s residents.”
Louijeune, asked whether the Carney site could be used for housing, said officials can always consider mixed-use development options.
“But we have heard very clear from the communities that use it, the Dorchester community, the Mattapan community, the Vietnamese community, the Haitian community, that we need health care,” she said. “The psych beds that were there, the urgent care that was there, EMS depended on Carney so much. We need to make sure that we have a health care facility there.”
