W𝙴 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙲𝚂𝙾
𝒮𝓉𝒶𝒻𝒻 𝒫𝓇𝑜𝒻𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓈
Like so many nurses, Maryanne Murphy’s career path took a sharp turn during the pandemic.
When Tobey Hospital furloughed her due to patient decline in every department except the Covid units, Murphy took a job at Bridgewater State Hospital. It’s the only correctional facility in the state designed to treat inmates with severe mental illness.
Murphy found the work fascinating in all its complexity. Along with mental health issues, many of the patients at Bridgewater have drug histories. And then there is the possibility they are trying to avoid prison.
“You really have to do a good assessment on them,” Murphy said.
Murphy took a nursing job at the BCSO to be closer to her home. But then she resigned in 2022 due to staffing deficiencies under the previous healthcare vendor Wellpath. She was working nearly 80 hours a week.
That year began a brutal period in her life. In November, her husband of 30 years, Douglas, got diagnosed with cancer. He died in October of 2023 at the age of 55.
When the BCSO ended the contract with Wellpath and hired a medical staff, Murphy’s BCSO colleagues begged her to come back. She is now back at her old job only with a much more competitive state salary and benefits.
With Murphy's broad experience in healthcare, she said the sheriff’s mission of providing quality mental health and medical care to incarcerated individuals, will lower recidivism.
“I love her vision,” Murphy said. “It is not pie-in-the-sky.