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WELLS – Selectmen have asked Gov. John Baldacci to intervene in a dispute between competing hospital groups that want to build a cancer treatment center to serve southern York County.
Former Human Services Commissioner Kevin Concannon decided last month that Maine Medical Center in Portland and Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford should build the radiation treatment center.
The competing group composed of York Hospital, Goodall Hospital in Sanford and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H., has appealed the decision.
“It’s a situation where the state has made a decision. It’s over,” said Sue Hadiaris, a spokeswoman for Southern Maine Medical Center. “That decision is final and we are moving forward to build the center.”
Wells officials said they’d like the two groups to build the center jointly.
“The town of Wells is sort of in the middle of this issue,” said Robert Foley, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “We want to see this resolved.”
Town officials prefer the site chosen by the York Hospital group. York Hospital operates a clinic, Wells Regional Medical Community, on Route 109 and has the town’s approval to build a cancer center at the same site.
Foley said the town is uncomfortable with the Route 1 site proposed by Maine Medical and Southern Maine Medical.
“It’s not a site that the town believes is a good, viable site for the project,” Foley said, citing the strip’s congestion.
Foley and Town Manager Jonathan Carter have met with both hospital groups but have been unable to broker an agreement.
The hospital groups have attempted to cooperate in the past but were unable to agree on terms.
Before Concannon announced his decision, York Hospital asked Maine Medical and Southern Maine Medical to build a treatment center in collaboration with its group. Maine Medical and Southern Maine Medical said the offer came too late in the process.
After Concannon’s decision, Maine Medical and Southern Maine Medical asked York and Goodall hospitals to join them, but excluded Wentworth-Douglass because it is not in Maine.
York Hospital rejected the offer.
“Wentworth-Douglass is already treating the majority of radiation patients [in southern York County],” said York Hospital spokeswoman Dawn Grasso. “They are a partner. They treat patients who live here. We can’t just leave them out.”
Grasso said her hospital would welcome Baldacci’s involvement.
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