July 14, 2017

An Open Letter Regarding Women’s Health Services at Harrington

July 14, 2017

To Our Valued Patients and Community Members:

The administration, medical staff and clinical professionals at Harrington HealthCare System spend considerable time evaluating our services. We consider program and revenue growth, capital improvements and operations, but we also want to ensure that there is adequate access to care and that we are offering specialized services where appropriate.

Over the past several years, we have closely monitored our women’s health services, particularly OB/GYN. We have asked our community members for feedback, and involved local women in several surveys and focus groups to better understand their needs and to be sure they felt comfortable, safe and satisfied when choosing Harrington.

While we have received many letters of praise for the care received in our offices and in our Family Birthing Center over the years, we have also heard what many others told with us about choosing the right service provider for obstetric and gynecologic care. We heard you…

• … when you told us you felt more comfortable giving birth in a facility that has a NICU on site;
• … when you expressed that pregnancies are becoming more complicated and patients often required specialized physician oversight.
• .. when you expressed that you wanted to stay close to home as often as possible for convenience and comfort.

It is with all this knowledge (and more) that we have made an investment in women’s health services. And it is with our patients’ safety and comfort in mind that we can now offer the best of both worlds to OB/GYN patients in south central Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut.

We are committed to providing and keeping women’s health close to home. That’s why we continue to offer a full spectrum of gynecological care, urogynecological care and pre- and post-natal care.

• Our patients also have access to maternal fetal medicine in Southbridge, which provides advanced specialty physician oversight to women with complicated pregnancies, including access to Level II ultrasound on site.
• Our patients continue to have access to advanced in-office procedures and minimally-invasive same-day surgical procedures in Southbridge for gynecological concerns and preventive care.
• Our patients continue to be treated by the same friendly medical assistants, nurses and providers with whom they have built a relationship.
• Our expectant mothers can now deliver at a UMass Memorial Medical Center — a facility that sees 4,000 births per year and has an onsite Level III NICU — but continue to keep all their obstetric appointments, post-delivery and newborn care in this community where it’s accessible and familiar.

These are just some of the many preventive, diagnostic and specialized services that we will continue to offer our patients. For most, access to care will operate the way it always has – and for all OB/GYN care, patients will stay in the Harrington HealthCare System, where so many have expressed satisfaction.

We have always offered a more personalized, community approach to care, and that’s a model we will continue to practice and expand.

For more information on women’s health services at Harrington, please visit click here.

We thank all of our patients for choosing Harrington over the years, and we look forward to continuing to take care of you for many more to come.

Sincerely,

 

 

Ed Moore
President and CEO
Harrington HealthCare System