Memorial Hospital Set to Be Demolished and I’m Not Okay With It

After over 100 years in Pawtucket, Memorial Hospital could soon be gone for good. And I really don't like that idea.

I know that the now-defunct hospital has been closed and empty for over a year now, but the building still stands and is a familiar sight each and every time I visit my mother in Pawtucket.

Now comes the news that Care New England is preparing for demolition of the building and I am not okay with that.

Memorial Hospital has been a part of my life for, literally, my whole life.

My mother worked there when I was little, taking the overnight shifts so that she could be home during the day with my sister and myself.

It's where she met my step-father and grew our family with a little brother.

It's where I had to go and get seven stitches in my eyebrow at age three after I ran into the kitchen counter while playing chase.

All three of my sister's children were born there.

The idea that it could be gone is just plain weird to me.

I know it's not reasonable to think the 13.4-acre property could just sit there empty forever so I could still see it every time I'm in the city. But thinking of it demoed just feels wrong.

I guess somewhere in my mind I hoped someone would use the building as it is, perhaps even as a hospital again.

But I guess there have been no takers on that in the last year, so to make the place more desirable to developers a demo plan is underway.

That plan is to clear out 6.7 acres of the medical campus, while keeping the other half functioning as ambulatory patient clinics and staff parking.

According to WPRI 12, prep for demolition is already happening, so my childhood view of Pawtucket could be completely changed very soon.

Bummer.