A “working group” charged with making recommendations for the future re-use of the former Carney Hospital property convened a listening session last Thursday night to hear from impacted residents in the wake of the hospital’s abrupt closure in August.

Speakers who addressed the group during the lightly attended meeting at the Sheet Metal Union Hall on Adams Street expressed a range of emotions— from sadness and anger to optimism that a new set of operators might improve the health outcomes for people in Dorchester, Mattapan, and other neighborhoods. One neighbor — Zanna Diosa— even brought a ukulele and performed a song that she wrote about the Carney crisis.

The co-chair of the Carney working group, Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the city’s commissioner of Public Health, launched the meeting by telling attendees: “Right now, all options are on the table. We’re thinking through what makes the most sense in terms of right-sizing care for people. We know there are needs for emergency or urgent care. We know that there are behavioral health needs. We know that there are primary care and some specialty outpatient care needs.”

The goal of the group, she emphasized, is for health delivery services to be restored on the Dorchester Avenue campus formerly occupied by the Carney.

Karl Odom, who worked as a cardiopulmonary technician at Carney, said both he and his 90-year-old father, whom he cares for, depended on primary care providers based out of the hospital.

Odom said he now must wait six months for a preliminary appointment with a new primary care physician. His father, he said, will have to wait extended periods should he need an ambulance in an emergency at home.

“That is the collateral damage of what’s happened,” Odom said.

Lew Finfer, a Lower Mills resident who has been active as a community organizer in Dorchester since 1970, attended the meeting with his wife, Judy Shea, who once worked at the Carney. Her late father worked there, too, he said. Finfer urged the working group to emulate the reopening of North Adams Regional Hospital. He believes Dorchester needs an emergency room and expanded psychiatric facilities to combat the statewide shortage better.

Valarie Burton, who worked in Carney’s psych ward for 21 years, said, “We definitely need a medical facility in this community.” She noted the longer commutes and wait times at other hospitals. Burton wants to see the former Carney space converted into a multi-service center “that can serve the community as it served once before” complete with legal services, counseling, workforce development, and other services. 

She also referred to the conversion of the Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick and urged the working group to carefully consider what to do with Carney because “that building was a sanctuary for most of us.”

Ellen MacInnis, who sits on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Nurses Association and worked as a nurse at St Elizabeth’s Medical Center for 26 years, spoke on behalf of the MNA in a testimony written by the group’s director, Joe-Ann Fergus.

“The neighborhoods and community members served by Carney have been historically underserved and under resource,” Fergus wrote. “Carney’s closure simply represents one more slight in the legacy of disrespect and neglect on this community by many in power. She noted that MNA sees “robust wraparound multilingual primary care services” as imperative for the good of the community.

Added MacInnes: “A fully functioning, freestanding emergency department with the capacity for lab diagnostics and imaging should be established with a complement of surgical beds to accommodate patients who are not [in critical condition] and to stabilize patients before being transported to other hospitals.”

The closing of the Carney, she said, is not just damaging to Dorchester’s health system, but it also has shut down a “pivotal economic engine that provided good paying, life-changing jobs.” She said small businesses— florists, cafes, and restaurants— have also taken a hit with the void left by the dispersion of Carney workers and patients.

Nurses at other facilities have also been heavily impacted by the influx of new patients.

“I was an ER nurse for 20 years,” said MacInnis, “When you have an onslaught like that and you don’t have the resources to take care of those patients, it’s devastating. 200,000 patients don’t just disappear.”

Later, Diosa approached the podium with her ukulele and performed her original song, titled “S.O.S.” in which she denounces the “oligarchs” and “bougie billionaires” she sees as responsible for the hospital closing.

“Save our sirens, save our souls” she sang. A new verse she wrote recently spoke to the hopes of many for a better outcome from the 33-member working group when it makes recommendations to the governor and mayor next year.

So now we keep on
Keepin’ on
Righting what’s wrong
And now that Carney’s gone,
We need a real solution
A healthcare revolution
Build a new foundation
Here and across the nation.”

The working group will continue to accept written comments from the public through Monday, Dec. 16. Go to boston.gov/news/carney-hospital-resources to submit.