Petersham Zoning Board Green Lights ‘Quabbin Retreat’

GARDNER, Mass. - April 29, 2015 - PRLog -- Gardner, MA – On Tuesday, April 28th, the Town of Petersham’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to grant a special permit that will allow Heywood Healthcare to move forward with the “Quabbin Retreat” project.

The granting of this permit allows Heywood Healthcare to move forward with the permitting, licensure, purchase and development of the current Sisters of Assumption property, which is the proposed site for a behavioral health and addiction service facility.

“As an organization, we are very excited to see this project moving forward,” stated Win Brown, President & CEO of Heywood Healthcare. “Although we still have much work ahead, this is the first major regulatory step in our journey toward providing critically needed services to our region.”

Currently, Heywood Healthcare is the only in-patient provider of mental health services in North Central Massachusetts; however due to limited bed space, Heywood Hospital turns away more than 2500 patients in urgent need of care each year. Additional facilities in Worcester, Concord and Greenfield must also turn away patients due to capacity limitations. Heywood’s Partial Hospitalization Program, the only day program of its kind in our area is also at capacity, resulting in limited access to behavioral care for patients in our region.

Throughout the state, there is a serious shortage of inpatient behavioral health and substance abuse treatment beds, creating a crisis for patients in-need. This shortage hits particularly close to home for our communities. With adult suicide at the highest in New England, adolescent suicide rates five times the state average and soaring substance abuse, there remains an urgent need for expanded behavioral health services in our region. With all this in mind, Heywood Healthcare’s Board of Trustees has made a commitment to prioritizing and expanding behavioral health services in our region.

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About Athol Hospital
A member of the Heywood Healthcare system, Athol Hospital is a 25-bed non-profit, acute care and outpatient facility serving the communities of the North Quabbin region of Massachusetts. Athol Hospital’s services include 24/7 Emergency Care, Oncology, Radiology and Laboratory, Diabetes Center and Center for Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation. It is designated as a Critical Access Hospital and Primary Stroke Center, licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and accredited by the Joint Commission.

About Heywood Hospital
Part of the Heywood Healthcare system, Heywood Hospital is a 134-bed acute care hospital in Gardner, MA, which provides a broad range of high quality medical, surgical, obstetrical, pediatric and behavioral health services on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The hospital’s Centers of Excellence include the Watkins Center for Emergency and Acute Care; the LaChance Maternity Center; the Diabetes Center; and the Heywood Heart and Vascular Center, an affiliate of the Heart and Vascular Center of Excellence at UMass Memorial Health Care.

About Heywood Healthcare
Heywood Healthcare is an independent, community-owned healthcare system serving north central Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. It is comprised of Heywood Hospital, a non-profit, 134-bed acute-care hospital in Gardner, MA; Athol Hospital, a 25-bed not-for-profit, Critical Access Hospital in Athol, MA; Heywood Medical Group with primary care physicians and specialists located throughout the region; four satellite facilities in MA – Heywood Rehabilitation Center in Gardner, West River Health Center in Orange, Winchendon Health Center and Murdock School-based Health Center in Winchendon - and Heywood Charitable Foundation and the North Quabbin Community Coalition, an affiliate organization.