Gaza war protesters zero in on health care in gathering outside Cooley Dickinson Hospital

Dodi Melnicoff, center, holds up two signs protesting the war in Gaza in front of Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton on Tuesday afternoon. Melnicoff was protesting with the group River Valley for Gaza Healthcare, as is Jeanne Allen, pictured on the right.

Dodi Melnicoff, center, holds up two signs protesting the war in Gaza in front of Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton on Tuesday afternoon. Melnicoff was protesting with the group River Valley for Gaza Healthcare, as is Jeanne Allen, pictured on the right. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Staff Writer

Published: 12-10-2024 4:02 PM

NORTHAMPTON — After protesting in front of the offices of politicians and on colleges campuses, local activists opposing the ongoing war in Gaza have set their sights on local health care institutions.

On Tuesday, around 20 demonstrators stood outside of Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, holding up signs decrying the situation in Gaza, where more than 44,700 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled strip’s Health Ministry.

The protesters, forming themselves under a coalition called the River Valley for Gaza Healthcare, featured members of other activist groups that have protested in the region since the war’s outbreak in October 2023, including Demilitarize Western Mass and Code Pink.

“Today, we call for health care leaders to fulfill their code of ethics and speak up,” said Jeanne Allen, an Easthampton resident and family nurse practitioner who spoke during Tuesday’s protest. “Today, we’re focused on the health care effects of war. All the hospitals in Gaza have been damaged, if not completely destroyed.”

Also speaking at the event was Dodi Melnicoff, a registered nurse from Greenfield.

“Imagine if your local hospital, such as Cooley Dickinson, was barely functional and under Israeli attack, no sterile equipment, no anesthesia, people bleeding out in the hallways,” Melnicoff said. “No one, no civilian, no child, should come to a hospital for medical care and safety, only to be greeted by more carnage and no relief.”

In a letter sent by the group to Cooley Dickinson interim CEO Debra Rogers and shared with the Gazette, the group called on the hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham network, to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza and its targeting of health care facilities.

“In the name of humanity, and in the name of the Palestinian people and the stricken health care system of Gaza, and for the sake of the moral reputation of your own facility, we urge you to speak out,” the letter states. “Where is the moral conscience of the health care institutions and providers of western Massachusetts?”

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In a statement to the Gazette, Cooley Dickinson acknowledged that they were aware of the protester’s actions, but did not give any indication whether they would issue a statement regarding the war.

“We were made aware of an external group who demonstrated on public property outside our hospital today,” the hospital stated. “Patients and visitors should be assured that this group has no connection to the hospital and that there was no disruption to any services or patient care.”

Jennifer Scarlott, a member of Demilitarize Western Mass who helped organize the Tuesday protest, said that the coalition formed around a month ago and previously held a protest at Baystate Hospital in Springfield. Scarlott also said that future protests were planned for other health care facilities in Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden counties. Scarlott said the group was inspired by larger, international groups such as Doctors Against Genocide, consisting of health care professionals across the world opposed to the war in Gaza.

“They really put a lot of wind under our wings, because we tried to do hospital standouts eight months ago and it just got nowhere,” Scarlott said. “We sent letters to five area hospitals, and the point of that was to express our views and see if they would meet us, and whether they would make a statement on Gaza.”

In Northampton, the City Council has passed two resolutions regarding the war, one calling for a cease-fire in the conflict and another calling for an arms embargo against Israel in response to its conduct. Local politicians, such as U.S. Rep Jim McGovern, have also publicly called for a cease-fire in the conflict.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.