Why the back and forth? With a name like ‘Caritas Christi’ you would kind of figure this will be a Catholic-run Hospital. Those ‘in the know’ are already on to St. Joseph Hospital and Our Lady of Fatima. Miriam Hospital is supported by Jewish charities. What’s there to hide?
Woonsocket’s Landmark Medical Center will become a Catholic hospital, subject to the limitations of Catholic doctrine, if the hospital completes its planned sale to Caritas Christi Health Care, a Catholic hospital chain in Massachusetts.
That’s according to a statement from Dr. Ralph de la Torre, Caritas Christi’s chief executive officer — contradicting statements made by Caritas and Landmark spokesmen when the sales agreement was signed late last month.
See the rest of the story here at ProJo.com.
In Providence you can’t swing a cat without hitting a hospital, but Landmark is the only one serving the Woonsocket area. People who are sick or having an emergency can’t always travel– Northern Rhode Island will depend on this hospital as the first choice.
Will the proposed Caritas Christi provide emergency care? Will they treat rape victims? Will they offer emergency contraception–the standard of care? Will they consider religion in their decisions to hire and fire?
St. Joseph Hospital in Providence does an admirable job of serving the community, and there are other nearby providers they can refer to. Woonsocket deserves straight answers, in writing, so they know what they will be getting, and not getting, if Caritas Christi buys Landmark.
Recurring Nightmare 
Landmark is a terrible hospital-maybe new management can improve it.
Would you expect a Catholic hospital to allow abortions?Maybe when Jewish hospitals serve pork.You can’t force these things in either instance-that is an interference with the free practice of religion.
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Caritas Christi just needs to be honest and clear about what they will do if they buy Landmark. People in Northern RI don’t have the choice of nearby hospitals we have in Greater Providence.
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Fair enough.
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You mentioned St.Joseph’s-I once had a doctor tell me that if I had a heart attack right in front of the place,I should still tell the rescue to take me to Miriam of RIH if I could talk.Now,this about twenty years ago,so maybe it’s different now.
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St. Joseph has a clinic that is the number one source for primary care in the neighborhood. I don’t think they even have an emergency room any more, and since RIH is very close the rescue would probably go there first.
In Woonsocket, on the other hand, you are at best twenty minutes from RIH and its trauma center, maybe longer. Even visiting a family member sick in the hospital would be more difficult if for some reason the local hospital was not an option. So Woonsocket needs to know what any buyer of Landmark intends to offer the city.
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