Members of a ‘working group’ asked to advise state and city leaders on the impacts of the closure of Carney Hospital – and the next steps to replace it – were announced this morning by city officials. The Dorchester unit, with 32 members, and a second like it that will focus on Nashoba Valley, includes public health officials, labor leaders, doctors, and elected officials.

The Carney team is co-chaired by Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston, and Michael Curry, president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.

There are 11 “ex-officio” members, most of them elected officials, including US Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Stephen F. Lynch, state Sen. Nick Collins, state Rep. Brandy Fluker Oakley, and Boston City Councillors Ruthzee Louijeune and John FitzGerald. The state’s chief of Public Health, Dr. Robbie Goldstein, Boston EMS Chief James Holley, Dr. Kiame Mahaniah of the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Boston’s new Chief of Planning Kairos Shem, and Amy Rosenthal of Health Care for All are also ex officio members.

Editor's note: State Rep. Daniel Hunt was added to the ex-officio list after this article was published.

Other people named to the group, according to the BPHS are: Dr. Jean Bonnet, Hyde Park Health Associates; Lydia Conley, Association for Behavioral Healthcare; Lynn Cronin, Beth Israel Lahey Health; Bishop William E. Dickerson, Greater Love Tabernacle; Frank Doyle, Esq., FJD Health Care Consulting LLC; Dr. Guy Fish, Codman Square Health Center; Tim Foley, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East; Dr. Joe-Ann Gergus, Massachusetts Nurses Association; George Huynh, VietAID; Cynthia Loesch Johnson, Codman Square Neighborhood Council.

Also, Rob Koenig, Boston Medical Center Health System; Stan McLaren, former President of Carney Hospital; Bart Mitchell, Community Builders; Vivien Morris, Mattapan Food & Fitness Coalition; Chris Skillin, Lower Mills Merchants Association; Darryl Smith, Total Care; Dr. Elsie Taveras, Massachusetts General Brigham; Guale Valdez, Mattapan Community Health Center; and Dr. Monica Vohra, DotHouse Health.

According to the Boston Public Health Commission, which will lead the effort, the group will make recommendations “following 90 days of convening and analysis.” At least one meeting will provide an opportunity for public comment, and those details will be announced by the Public Health Commission,” the agency said in a statement sent to The Reporter on Oct. 8. “The working group is also partnering with Health Care for All to expand access to the public for input and engagement. In addition to targeted outreach, Health Care for All will also host community visioning sessions that will be shared with the working group.

The Carney was closed on Aug. 31, shutting Boston’s largest neighborhood and adjacent communities off to swift access to acute health care services for the first time in modern history. A small group of physicians continue to provide select services to patients during scheduled office hours in an adjacent site, the Seton Medical building.

Included in Tuesday’s announcement was this statement from Mayor Wu: “The closure of Carney Hospital has left critical gaps in access to care. As the court’s bankruptcy proceedings have reached some legal resolution to Steward’s mismanagement, we must act quickly to address the future of quality healthcare on this site and bring community members together to reimagine and strengthen access. I’m grateful for the leadership of Co-Chairs Dr. Bisola Ojikutu and Michael Curry, and all the community stakeholders and experts who will work urgently with us to identify and map out next steps.”

Said Dr. Fish of Codman Square Health Cente: “Putting the drama of the Steward implosion and Carney Hospital closure aside, it is very much time to focus on the needs of the community and citizens of Dorchester who are now facing a sudden reduction in health care services. Every community deserves access to high quality, culturally relevant care. As the closest large primary care provider to the closed Carney campus, the Codman Square Health Center is heartened by the convening of this working group and the opportunity to reimagine the Carney site to deliver health services in innovative ways.”

In an interview with The Reporter on Oct. 1, the BPHC’s Ojikutu said that when it comes to recommendations that the group may make, “all options in regard to health care delivery are on the table. The issue is there’s a gap that’s been left and there were already these inequities that have been compounded,” she said. “This may be our opportunity figure it out.”

Co-chair the group Michael Curry said that Gov. Healey called him personally to ask him to help lead the effort. "There have been no constraints put on the conservations that this working group will have," Curry told The Reporter. "In the absence of constraints, we’ll be looking at how to maintain urgent care, behaviorial health, and other needs as part of our analysis and recommendations."

Curry added that he hoped the group would come to consensus by the end of the year and deliver a report to the governor and mayor by "early next year.

"I've talked to no one that doesn’t see a path forward for some model of care," he said of the Carney's future use.