Seven Hills Pediatric Center of Groton Family Council
Seven Hills Pediatric Center is an award-winning pediatric nursing home in Groton, Massachusetts. It is a residential facility for profoundly cognitively impaired individuals having multiple medical and nursing issues. This website represents the views of the Family Council of SHPC, in which family members and guardians of SHPC residents meet to discuss their views on matters affecting the well-being of their loved ones.
Statement of June 23, 2013
Following the wrapping up of the Rolland suit, we’re grateful to all who helped to protect our loved ones from potentially harmful and involuntary transfers out of SHPC. We express special thanks to Attorney Stephen M. Sheehy, who worked tirelessly on our behalf without compensation, and to Melissa Aguiar and James McKain, who built and maintained the Avert Rolland Tragedy website on our behalf. We are also grateful to Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, former State Senator Susan Tucker, former State Representative Robert Hargraves, and to other state representatives and senators who were receptive to our pleas. Special thanks as well to attorneys Anthony Fiotto, Jr., Michelle Gonnam, Christiaan Highsmith, and their firm, Goodwin Proctor, including partner Paul Lee, for defending our loved ones’ interests before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit alongside Attorney Sheehy. We thank the many family members who were active in support of our cause, including several whose loved ones have, sadly, since passed on.
At its June 23, 2013 meeting, members of the SHPC Family Council also endorsed the following statement on public policy:
“We, the guardians and family members of the residents of Seven Hills Pediatric Center in Groton, are grateful that no resident was forced to be moved from the facility as part of the Commonwealth’s settlement agreement with the Rolland plaintiffs, an agreement implemented under court supervision during 2008 to 2013. We herewith affirm our belief that while community placement may lead to an improvement in quality of life for many higher-functioning cognitively impaired individuals, there exist more severely impaired and medically fragile individuals whose interests are better addressed by care in a facility such as SHPC. We will continue to work to inform the public, legislators, and policy-makers about the need for a continuum of care options. May the well-being of our loved ones always take precedence over ideology when making the life-and-death decisions that affect them.”
For information on the Rolland Suit and how it affected SHPC’s residents and their families, you are welcome to view the pages of the AvertRollandTragedy.org website archive.
Click here for information on SHPC