Gov. Healey unveils new banner at Saint Anne’s Hospital, previously owned by Steward

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) — Brown University Health, formerly and better known as Lifespan, is stepping in to run Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.

The takeover comes after Steward Health Care, the company that owned Saint Anne’s Hospital, declared bankruptcy back in May.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey visited Saint Anne’s on Tuesday to help unveil the new banner out front.

“We started the year with bad news, we got news that Steward was going out of business and going bankrupt and that meant serious issues for communities around the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Healey said. “As governor, I took it as my responsibility and our administration took it as their responsibility to make sure we were doing everything that we could.”

Saint Anne’s is one of six hospitals owned by Steward that the state was able to help, including Morton in Taunton.

Governor Healey said with the takeover, thousands of jobs are being saved in Fall River.

“In addition to saving 13,000 jobs, we also did something important and got a bad, unethical operator out of Massachusetts once and for all,” Healey said.

Brown University Health CEO and President John Fernandez thanked the staff at Saint Anne’s for sticking around through uncertain times.

“It’s the people at Saint Anne’s and at Morton, the nurses, the staff, the doctors, that persevered through a very, very tough time,” Fernandez said. “I can’t imagine how difficult it was, it’s hard enough to deliver care.”

Mayor Paul Coogan called it a great day for the city.