PETITION: Keep the Somerville Emergency Room Open (Change.org)

http://chng.it/PQg6d95MCD

From the Change.Org site:

Protect Your Access to Care in Our Community When it Matters Most

The Coalition to Save the Somerville ER, an alliance of residents, nurses and dedicated employees, have launched a campaign to preserve this vitally important service.

• Loss of emergency services will endanger lives – The Somerville Hospital ER serves a growing population of more than 81,000 residents, with more than 28,000 emergency room visits each year, including patients suffering heart attacks, strokes and other conditions where every minute waiting for care can be a matter of life and death.
• Loss of emergency services will impact the most vulnerable in our community – Among those impacted by this closure will be a number of vulnerable patients, including the poor, homeless and immigrant populations who depend on us for care
• Loss of emergency services will impact other hospitals and communities – The closing of the Somerville ER will add to the list of surrounding communities that we serve who have no emergency department including Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, and Malden. The loss of this service will force patients to travel farther for life-saving treatments to hospitals in Cambridge, Boston, and Everett, increasing overcrowding at these facilities, which will negatively impact the care throughout the region.
• There must be a shared commitment to preserving this vital community asset – The loss of this service will cause great hardship to thousands of residents and disrupt care in a number of communities who utilize our ER. We call upon Cambridge Health Alliance to preserve and enhance this vital service and to maintain the health care safety net for Greater Somerville.

http://chng.it/PQg6d95MCD