BREWER – Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems has come very close to reaching its goal of recruiting 200 community representatives from its nine-county service area to provide feedback on the corporation’s network of health care facilities and charities.

At its annual meeting of corporators, or community representatives, at the EMHS Cianchette Building in Brewer on Tuesday, EMHS board of directors Chairman Jack Palmer announced that in an earlier vote by mail, the existing 147 corporators elected 50 newcomers, bringing the total to 197.

Corporators are members of the community invited by EMHS to serve three-year terms. Each year, one-third of the group is up for re-election.

“They are community leaders, consumers, in health care, law, business, insurance, clergy, from Waterville to Fort Kent,” said Leonard Giambalvo, general counsel and corporate secretary at EMHS.

In the earlier vote, the corporators also approved the existing board of directors. One member, G. Clifton Eames, has retired from the board but will remain active as a corporator.

Eames and Kenneth A. Hews received standing ovations at Tuesday’s meeting for their contributions to EMHS. Hews is retiring from his position as executive vice president of EMHS and president and CEO of Healthcare Charities, Rosscare and Affiliated Healthcare Systems in Bangor, but plans to consult with the corporation on special projects.

At the meeting, the audience of corporators, some of whom were beamed in on television screens to participate from a distance, were given an overview of the past year at EMHS. A short video explained EMHS’s efforts to establish a more defined brand and its success in obtaining a $1.8 million federal appropriation to support the Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health.

“It’s a beehive of new ideas,” the institute’s director, Janet Hock, said of the facility.

Palmer encouraged the audience to continue communicating ideas, suggestions and concerns to the company throughout the year.

“EMHS relies on you corporators to hold the board accountable,” Palmer said.