FalsePattern6258 t1_iwt2745 wrote on November 18, 2022 at 3:18 AM

Reply to comment by jesseMc420 in Saw A Woman Die Waiting To Be Seen At UMASS ER Last Night by incandesantlite

The Lake Ave location is growing also in order to better accommodate the overload on UMass right now. We physically need more space for the overload of patients who are everywhere in hallways in the ED and on regular floors.

jesseMc420 t1_iwuetuu wrote on November 18, 2022 at 12:53 PM

Funny because everytime I have had to be there I have only had a room once instead of a bed in the hallway. Having that many patients always suffering in a bed in a hallway is pretty ridiculous considering how much money they make in profits. The nurses have the burden of trying to hold that place together. My mom worked in the er there for 10 years. The stories I heard were absolutely insane. That hospital specifically needs to put some more money into helping the nurses build staffing and so many issues I'm just not going g to bring up here.

FalsePattern6258 t1_ix6dbex wrote on November 21, 2022 at 2:12 AM

I can't say how much UMass makes in profit, but I would honestly be surprised if it's a lot given it's a safety net hospital that gets a lot of uninsured/medicare/medicaid patients unlike some of the better-to-do hospitals in Boston. I think we're fortunately a state hospital, so we probably get lots of specific funds allocated only to stuff like research buildings, and to help make up for the loss of profit that safety net hospitals face.

I totally agree that it's crazy how many hallway beds there are. Not only are they in the ED, even on the regular floors we're having a few hallway beds. It's insane and the lack of staffing is just plain crazy. Healthcare and it's poor staff deserve so much more funding. We work on a shortage everyday - that is the norm - and we all put our hearts into it. I want to so badly fight for more funding for hospitals, but I don't even know where or how to even start. It's demoralizing though when you hear about how Medicare has cut its pay towards hospitals even further, which is absolutely nuts, especially for safety net hospitals like us who are already stretched way too thin... I wonder if the public knows how many hospitals are on the brink of collapse, because I think we need to band together and fight for some sort of change from our politicians.

jesseMc420 t1_ix89php wrote on November 21, 2022 at 2:48 PM

UMass has had RECORD PROFITS FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS. This is just a fact. There are not too many uninsured people in MA. In other states yes but Massachusetts has created the structure for the countries insurance structure or at least what it could be with better federal and state funding. It's far from good but our state has very few uninsured Patients in the hospital.