One year since Carney and Nashoba closures, gaps in service are clear

It’s been a year since a financial crisis brought the nation’s largest private for-profit hospital system, Steward Healthcare, to an abrupt end.

While the bankruptcy led to the sale of five Massachusetts hospitals, its lasting impact is most keenly felt in the communities around the two other Steward hospitals that closed at the end of August 2024: Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester.

Losing those hospitals and their more than 200 combined inpatient beds has increased demand on neighboring hospitals and community health centers — which were already dealing with capacity issues — and ambulances have been tied up driving patients long distances to receive emergency care, adding to longer response times. Meanwhile, efforts to restore medical services in