Baystate eyes new use of old Mary Lane Hospital campus in Ware
WARE – Baystate Health hopes to renovate the 103-year-old Wetherby Building in Ware as home of an expanded physician training program focused on rural health.
Demolition contractors left Wetherby and portions of another nearby building behind last summer when they razed the rest of the old Mary Lane Hospital campus. Built in 1923 and once the only building at Mary Lane, Wetherby remains boarded up.
Baystate seeks to use federal money from Massachusetts' $162 million share of the Rural Health Transformation Fund to expand its Greenfield Family Medicine Residency into Ware.
The nonprofit plans to locate the expanded physician residency program in the Wetherby building and use the space for outpatient clinics, said spokeswoman Heather Duggan.
Baystate is looking to duplicate what it's been doing in Greenfield with a sister program. It would cost between $9 million and $12.7 million to preserve and renovate Wetherby, according to a report provided to the town 13 months ago.
"Notably, two of the most recent graduates in Greenfield signed on to stay there as physicians," Duggan wrote in an emailed response to questions.
Baystate' s Family Medicine Residency Program trains 12 new medical residents, with four new doctors entering the program each year.
Baystate said it is in discussions with the state over the program.
Last week, Baystate announced it is now the beneficiary of the $8 million Lewis Gilbert Trust originally meant to support Mary Lane.
The institution says it will use the money to help fund a new primary and "convenient care" facility in Ware. It will not be located on Mary Lane campus and will include a lab and x-ray capabilities.
Stories by Jim Kinney
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