More than 100 healthcare workers, labor union members, advocates and patients and their families gathered at the steps of the Massachusetts State House Feb. 25 to demand that facilities stay open and layoffs in mental health services be prevented.
The rally occurred amid Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed budget cuts for Fiscal Year 2026, which would bolster schools and transportation at the cost of slashing healthcare funding. The new budget proposes the closure of hospitals and mass layoffs of case managers in the Department of Mental Health, or DMH.
Two healthcare facilities at risk of closure were spotlighted at the rally: Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children in Canton and Pocasset Mental Health Center on Cape Cod, which Healey paused plans to close in a Feb. 24 announcement. Employees and patients of Pappas and their families and friends gathered inside the State House for a briefing regarding the facility’s funding after the rally.
After the briefing, Jocelyn Coffey, a pediatric physical therapist at Pappas for the past 20 years, said the hospital has been life-changing to herself and her patients.
“Pappas is a family to me as well as a job. I have been able to help kids grow as a physical therapist. I’ve been able to see children take their first steps and set them up for some fabulous customized power wheelchairs so they go from being completely dependent to independent around the [Pappas] campus,” Coffey said. “I am here to support Pappas because there would be so many missed opportunities if Pappas didn’t exist for these children.”
Michelle Whitney, a former student at Pappas, experienced many of these opportunities for herself.
“[The Pappas campus] had the student independent living experience. But apparently it is not open anymore, which pisses me off because that was the one only place that you could be on your own — go wherever you wanted to go, cook whatever you wanted to cook, whenever you wanted to cook,” Whitney said.
Whitney said the services offered by Pappas will not be available in Western Massachusetts, where the state has proposed moving the hospital to cut costs.
“There is nowhere else that’s as accessible [as Pappas] for children and adults in wheelchairs,” Whitney said. “They’re not gonna be able to do it in Western Mass. … plain and simple.”
Coffey agreed, noting that the scale of staff and space needed to support Pappas would not be available anywhere else.
“I don’t think Pappas can exist in Western Mass. where the governor would like to send us. We need the giant facility. We need all of the village that it takes to take care of these children, and they don’t deserve to be in a smaller hospital,” Coffey said.
Billy Alisch, a current patient who is set to graduate later this year, has been treated at Pappas for nearly nine years. Alma Alisch, Billy’s mother, was present at the briefing with her son and explained the suddenness of the closure announcement.
“Prior to the closing, Dr. [Khelda] Jabbar, the director, had been talking to us and said that they’re going to expand. And then all of a sudden they dropped the bomb and said they’re closing,” Alisch said. “We were so blindsided by the whole thing. The essential services that Pappas provides are what we want to make sure we protect.”
Alisch listed services such as speech therapy, physical therapy, recreation, education, optometry and dentistry, all of which are offered in-house at Pappas. She said protecting these services is why so many people attended the rally and briefing.
“I know it’s only a pause, but we wanted to sit down and have a seat at the table with the governor and be a part of this future for Pappas, because I know the parents and all the caregivers have so much to say or improve,” Alisch said.
Alisch said she feels it is important to protect Pappas for her son’s class and future classes.
“We want to be a part of that winning team for the doctors, for the governor, even for the state of Massachusetts,” Alisch said. “We want to make sure that Pappas stays open for the children of today and the children of the future.”
Isaira Almonte, a clinical case manager at the Lynn area office of DMH, said the rally and briefing were organized to send a message to legislators and to set a precedent for the nation.
“We’re here because the funding is decided by our senators, our legislators and our representatives all up here [at the State House],” Almonte said. “We are definitely at this time being bullied with our federal dollars here in Massachusetts. As a result of that threat, we find ourselves here in Massachusetts, starting the cuts. … We need to keep our services and we’re not going to be bullied by the federal level in regards to our funding of our programs.”
Almonte said that these cuts would not only impact workers but also the entire community supported by DMH services.
“We’re hearing that they’re looking to cut 50% of the workforce,” Almonte said. “We’re here to send out the message that we are very much worried for our clients and worried for the families that we support in their communities.”
Fellow case manager Dina Gay, who works for the Wakefield office of DMH, listed some of the likely consequences of cutting the workforce.
“If these cuts happen, our office would be down to two case managers, including myself. So we would lose all our peers. We’d have several supervisors, but people [who] are doing the direct care are not going to be there,” Gay said. “There’s going to be more hospitalizations, more crimes, more violence, I think, because people are going to reach their bottoms, become homeless. It’s a cycle.”
Gay said she believes legislators need to pay more attention to mental health.
“Unfortunately, I think mental health is the bottom of the pile [to legislators] and we often get hit hard,” Gay said.
Katie Taylor, a substance abuse and dual diagnosis clinician with DMH, said it’s important people know the value of the at-risk department’s services. Taylor said these services are especially important now.
“[DMH] is very needed in these times and if we don’t have the services that we need, then people in need are going to end up in emergency rooms or in jail, unfortunately, because we support people with needs staying out of prisons and jails. We keep them in the community,” Taylor said.
Almonte said that the initial concern sparked by talk of layoffs prompted her union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, or MNA, to organize the rally.
“It all started with the concern and the worry, and that’s how we, as a community [of healthcare workers], came together,” Almonte said. “Our unions have their leaders and they were able to really help us all coordinate and gather here and we’re all very committed to this cause together.”
Sarah Bessuille, a registered nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, sits on the board of directors of the MNA. She said organization among unions is critical to making the voices of healthcare workers heard.
“I hope that the support that we’ve been able to rally together from all the different unions and all the different coalitions that have come together will continue working together and finding ways to help support funding these projects, and maybe we can do even more,” Bessuille said.
Bessuille also thanked the busy healthcare workers and patients who took time out of their day to advocate for an often-overlooked cause.
“It’s not a huge population that’s being affected, but it’s a very important and vulnerable population,” Bessuille said. ”So I have a lot of respect for these people who took the time away from work. Everyone’s busy, but taking time away from their busy schedules to help some people in need, that’s honor.”
