BROCKTON, Mass. — The staff at Brockton Hospital will never forget the electrical fire in February 2023.
“It was smoky, it was hard to breathe, people were coughing, it was hard to see all the lights were out,” said Bob Haffey, President and CEO of Signature Healthcare.
Haffey says he helped evacuate patients along with all the nurses and staff that day, as firefighters carried patients in stretchers down the staircases.
Everyone was evacuated safely as smoke filled the hospital.
“I think people think this is never going to happen, and it happened, so I think their training and their instincts kicked in and they just knew exactly what to do to move these patients, first you go horizontally and then you go vertically,” said Haffey.
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Now 18 months later, Brockton Hospital is finally reopening Tuesday after that devastating fire.
“I think they’re going to see a more welcoming hospital,” said Haffey.
Patients will notice a brand-new lobby as soon as they walk in, as well as a completely renovated Emergency Department with 12 new beds for mental health patients.
Plus, there’s a new surgical facility.
“So that’ll be just for outpatient, sort of a boutique outpatient service that we’re going to provide to the community,” said Haffey.
Haffey says about 65% of their staff will be returning to Brockton Hospital after working in other hospitals for the last year and a half, and the rest are new hires.
He says the closure has been not only a big loss for patients in this community, but it also put an extra strain on the other surrounding hospitals and first responders, so Haffey is glad to announce Brockton Hospital will be back Tuesday.
“Experts told us two years, and then there were others that told us we would never reopen, so I’m very happy to report we’re opening tomorrow, about a year and a half, so we beat the odds, beat the experts,” said Haffey.
While Brockton Hospital will officially reopen Tuesday, some units like the maternity and pediatric units won’t be open just yet.
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