WASHINGTON – Steward Health CEO Ralph de la Torre is stepping down from the company. This comes days after the U.S. Senate voted to hold him in contempt. The fallout from the bankruptcy filing from the hospital system is impacting patients in Massachusetts. 

It’s been one month since Nashoba Valley Medical Center closed its doors. From the moment local leaders found out they could lose their hospital, they started working to save it. And they continue to try to reopen the former Steward Health Care facility. Until then, many people in Ayer and the surrounding communities fear the next closest hospital may be too far away. 

“It's just a fear people are worried about, relying on health care and not be able to obtain it right away,” said Rep. Danillo Sena (D- 37^th Middlesex). “I think the people in my district are not only angry about what has happened, but they are very much in fear of not really living in an area that there's no hospital.”

Gov. Maura Healey stepped in when Steward Health filed for bankruptcy, vowing the state would save as many hospitals as it could by finding buyers and systems to run them. But Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester were not purchased and closed their doors Aug. 31. 

In the month since, no new buyers have come forward. Healey blames Steward’s mismanagement. 

Sena is holding out hope someone can step in.  

“I think that's what the people want,” Sena said. “People are asking us to reopen this hospital and it's a valid concern. It's a valid question.”

As of right now, the communities surrounding Nashoba Valley Medical Center remain in limbo, hoping their local hospital will reopen, but planning for the reality that in an emergency, they'll have to travel somewhere else.