EMHS AND COMMUNITY

The narrow difference in the vote Wednesday by corporators of Eastern Maine Healthcare to accept bylaw changes that reduce their role and emphasize a more regional system sent an unmistakable message to the health care system’s board: The plan should go forward, but the community demands and deserves greater involvement.

Nearly half of the corporators voting heard lengthy testimony about the risks of rejecting a reorganization plan that took years to develop and they said No. They didn’t support the proposed model of governance, in part, because they had doubts about the system’s leadership. That issue doesn’t change even with the 139-120 vote in favor of the bylaw changes.

Some of the No votes came from members of the Good Governance Committee, a group that has helped bring to light problems and conflicts within the structure of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems and, by doing so, made for a better system. This valuable group, which supported regionalization but not the specific board plan, should be encouraged to remain active as the health care system continues to expand.

For EMHS board members, passage of the plan gives them the responsibility to effectively pursue the community’s voice and demonstrate they’ve listened. The points raised Wednesday – such as diversity on the board, including economic diversity – are worth further consideration. A citizen’s advisory committee would certainly have more proposals.

Toward the end of the months of debate over the role that the hospital would play in the region, a letter surfaced from the hospital’s files from November 1968 from a local physician to one of the state’s leading cardiologists, Dr. Wilber Manter. It said, in part, “Twenty years from now Eastern Maine General Hospital will either be a large community hospital in which local friendly physicians practice the art of medicine situated in the center of a medical region or it will be a medical center providing leadership and direction for the provision of medical service throughout northeastern Maine.”

The letter suggests both that the tension among the hospital’s roles has long standing, but also that doctors, as members of the medical community and of the Bangor community, have taken part in helping to shape these roles. The tension will never disappear entirely, but the EMHS board can ensure that important voices, like the Good Governance group and others, are listened to as the hospital continues to evolve.