After Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital acquired two bankrupt hospitals, its marketing team had a tall order: restoring trust in the facilities while creating an entirely new health system brand.
The result: Merrimack Health, which launched in September and was named after the river valley that cuts through the organization’s service area.
“There was uncertainty in the community, uncertainty in the region, around availability of health services — so our rebranding was really intended to send a unifying message to our communities, our patients and our employees that represented stability, quality and trustworthy care for the region,” Lori Howley, vice president of marketing and communications at Lawrence-based Merrimack Health, told Becker’s.
In October 2024, Lawrence General purchased the Holy Family hospitals in Haverhill, Mass., and Methuen, Mass., that were part of now-defunct Dallas-based Steward Health Care for $28 million. Several former Steward hospitals were forced to close because of the for-profit owner’s financial troubles.
The organization surveyed community leaders, physicians and other employees for input on the new name. The Holy Family branding had to be changed as those facilities would no longer operate as Catholic hospitals.
Ms. Howley said two things came to the forefront: the sense of pride people had that the organization was investing in healthcare locally, and the desire for an “authentic” brand.
“It just became very clear very early on that the simplest and clearest name would be the right brand for us,” she said.
The Merrimack River runs through the northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire communities the health system serves. The connected “R’s” in the logo represent the “current and strength” of that body of water, Ms. Howley said.
“The Merrimack River is the element that ties us all together throughout this region,” she said. “We purposely brought ‘Merrimack’ and ‘Health’ together — symbolic of how the former Lawrence General and Holy Family really came together to save healthcare for this region.”
The hospitals will now be named Merrimack Health Lawrence, Merrimack Health Haverhill and Merrimack Health Methuen.
The nonprofit health system immediately launched a new website, email signatures, letterheads, Teams backgrounds, and logos for PowerPoint slides. Merrimack Health prioritized new signage at its newly acquired hospitals, removing the Holy Family and Steward branding, and plans to update signs at the Lawrence hospital in the first quarter of 2026.
“We still have a lot to do internally, but externally we wanted to make it very clear that we were here for the community as a unified system, and that we’re going to continue to build and invest in services and resources together for the region,” Ms. Howley said.
The health system is being a “little bit budget-conservative right now” for marketing campaigns but is raising awareness about the new brand through digital channels, media outreach and public relations, she said. “ROI will be a little bit more future state, but it’ll be measured in our ability to continue to provide care for the region — it was certainly at risk,” she noted.
“Over the past year, there was a lot of attention given to the coming together and the acquisition and transition of the hospitals, and we are fortunate that we are starting from, I’ll say, a feel-good place, for the opportunity this brand represents: for hope, stability, growth, innovation,” Ms. Howley said. “That is what the outward expectation is of this health system. So we’re going to take that momentum and really move forward with it.”
