CANTON, Mass. — Former patients of a children’s rehabilitation hospital are relieved the state has paused its plan to close the facility but eager to learn of its long-term future.
Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children, a state-run facility that serves children and young adults with disabilities, had been slated to close under Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal 2026 budget, with plans to transfer services from the aging Canton campus to an innovative facility in western Massachusetts.
But after weeks of public outcry, Healey announced in a statement Monday the state would hold off on the closure “so that we can bring together a diverse group of stakeholders – including patients, families, labor, local officials, and medical professionals– to conduct a further review of the care offered at these facilities and make recommendations on the best path forward to ensure we are providing the highest quality of care with the resources at hand.”
Former Pappas resident Ann MacDonald, who protested the closure along with countless Pappas patients and families, told Boston 25 News Tuesday she was relieved the plan was halted but anxious to learn the facility will remain long-term.
“I was so glad that she reconsidered. She looked at the whole, big picture, how many families, how many kids that will impact,” MacDonald said. “It’s kind of like good news. It’s a temporary thing, but we want to make sure, 100 percent, that the program is safe.”
MacDonald, who was born with cerebral palsy in China and was unwanted by her parents, was adopted by an aunt and uncle in the U.S., and given a second chance at life when she began attending Pappas, she said.
MacDonald would learn to cook for herself, manage her money, make friends and accomplish unforgettable life experiences, attaining an independence she had never imagined possible.
“I was there for four years, and that miracle happened in my life,” said MacDonald. “Pappas means a community, big family to me. It means freedom, means home to me.”
While Pappas’s future is still uncertain, MacDonald remains committed to helping save the hospital.
“We have a voice,” MacDonald said of herself and other former patients protesting the closure. “But some of the kids, they can’t even speak up. So, we have to speak up for them, as a family. That’s what family is for.”
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