Boston hospital staffers protest Melania Trump's visit highlighting program for drug-dependent infants — and the backlash is brutal

Over 100 Boston Medical Center staffers protested Wednesday's visit by first lady Melania Trump, who was there to highlight the hospital's program for infants born dependent on drugs and alcohol, WBTS-TV reported.

What did the protesters say?

"She's Melania Trump, she's married to Donald Trump, and he is such a symbol of so much of what we stand against," BMC pediatrician Dr. Sara Stulac told the station during the protest.

"We feel that there's harm being done just by the fact of the first lady's presence here," Stulac added, WBTS noted.

Cecilia Girard, a nurse midwife, said Melania Trump represents an administration that cages illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"This is not a person that we want to come to our home, our hospital," Girard told the station.

More from WBTS:

Other workers who joined the protest wore white hospital jackets with the slogan, "We really do care, do you?" on the backs, a reference to a jacket Mrs. Trump wore on a trip to visit migrant children in a government facility in Texas last year. Some carried signs that read, "BMC cares for all patients."

About 250 hospital employees reportedly signed a letter demanding the cancellation of Trump's visit, BizPac Review said.

Stulac also said the president "has done more than anyone I can think of in modern times to work against what BMC holds as its core principles," the outlet said.

But not everyone was there to protest the first lady, as WBTS found one woman who backed her.

"I aspire to be her," Allison Nartiff — who traveled from New Hampshire and wore a red "Make America Great Again" hat — told the station. "Honestly, she's really kind, really nice, and, I mean, I love Trump."

Brutal backlash

As you might guess, more than a few folks took issue on Twitter with the hospital staff protesting the first lady:

• "Melania has done nothing but good for our country, kids and families. That's disgusting. These folks are full of pure hatred and evil."
• "In a medical center, isn't it the patients who are supposed to be sick?"
• "I would NEVER want these people deciding my health. Stop calling them medical professionals, they're anything BUT."
• "Friggin disgusting. Here's our beautiful [first lady] visiting Boston Medical center because she CARES about these poor, innocent babies born addicted to drugs, & these simpletons would chose to protest THAT. Pathetic. EMBARRASSING."
• "It's disturbing to think of doctors as being this political. Can you really trust them to treat you in an emergency if you hold different values than they do?"
• "I wonder if they have any idea just how hypocritical they are...for shame."
• "As a RN for 40 years, this sickens me."

Anything else?

The program Melania Trump highlighted is called Cuddling Assists in Lowering Maternal and Infant Stress for newborns suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome, which occurs during withdrawal from substances they were exposed to while in the womb, WTBS reported.

The hospital's CALM program calls for trained Boston University medical students to cuddle newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome to help soothe them from stress, the station said, adding that the first lady's visit was part of her Be Best initiative, which focuses on children's well-being, including safety online and treatment for opioid abuse.