In the News

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Mercy Medical Center held its third annual Caritas Gala, inviting guests to attend an "Evening at the Emmys."

The event kicked off with a cocktail reception, live entertainment, and a silent auction.

The annual gala was held at MGM Springfield. President of Mercy Medical Center Mark Fulco told 22News what a better way to raise money to benefit Mercy Medical Center than for the first time at the casino.

"What better place than to host a night at the 'Emmys' than at MGM, so we're excited to be here," said Fulco. "It's wonderful to see the red carpet here in downtown Springfield with all the stars out tonight to support Mercy Medical Center."

Dr. Louis Durkin, Chief of Emergency Medicine said the gala is all to raise money to help staff provide better care for patients.

"One of our pledges is to try to see every single patient in under 29 minutes, it's still a stretch, we're still working on that because we're a very very small emergency department for our volume. We see almost 80,000 patients a year," Dr. Durkin told 22News.

This year's fundraising will go towards renovations at Mercy Medical Center's Emergency Department to help reduce wait times and provide additional beds among other things.

Former president of Mercy Medical Center told 22News, this year's honoree is none other than Congressman Richard Neal.

"While I was president, we had an issue with Medicare and if he had not gone on and battled hard for us, Mercy would've lost $6 million that year," said Sister Mary Caritas. "We could not have afforded that. So, Mercy wouldn't be here."