Over the past year a group of people in the Bangor area have used the Bangor Daily News to air their grievances relative to Eastern Maine Medical Center and its parent company, Eastern Maine Healthcare (EMH). Front and center in the criticisms of EMMC has been the issue of governance, especially as it concerns the corporators who have who have traditionally elected the board of EMH, but come largely from Bangor.

In its efforts to modernize its governance structure to better fit EMMC’s role as a regional referral center, the board has recommended that the corporators ought to be regional as well. Doctors and hospitals throughout the nine county area around Bangor depend on EMMC for its ability to be there for patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People from the nine-county area are stakeholders in EMMC and as such have a right to a voice as our region’s healthcare system continues to develop and grow.

The medical center must develop relationships with the medical professionals throughout the area in order to keep EMMC vital – not to do so would risk all that many of our physicians and administrators have worked so hard to accomplish.

As leaders of the EMMC Auxiliary, we have been fortunate to get a close view of EMMC’s extraordinary facilities and technologies and we get to talk with the superior professionals who provide patient care miracles every day. For this community to continue to have first-class healthcare available close at hand it is of utmost importance that we support the medical center’s efforts to modernize.

As residents of the Bangor area, we appreciate the quiet, safe and rural nature of our community. However, we also enjoy the big city amenities Bangor has to offer – an international airport, abundant shopping malls, a nearby

university, arts and cultural institutions and access to first-class healthcare from Eastern Maine Medical Center.

In addition, we are businesswomen working in the Bangor area. As such we recognize there are several key regional assets that make our rural economy a robust one in comparison to other rural towns. Those assets draw people from throughout the region creating a high volume and variety of services than Bangor alone could support.

Consequently, Bangor-area residents enjoy the jobs and investment that enterprise locating here brings. Health care represents a significant investment in, as well as service to, our community, and EMMC is a major part of the equation.

When we stop and think about the Bangor region as a center of services for much of eastern and northern Maine, we must be thankful that we have a first-class medical center here. The alternative is that residents of this area travel to Portland or Boston for specialized care, losing precious time that could be life-saving – and often – more expensive.

Think of families having to stay in hotels, being far away from home in their desire and need to be near their loved ones as they receive care. Not only is this a difficulty for many families, it is an economic loss to our region of great consequence.

If the medical center loses business to institutions south of us, we in the Bangor area will lose the services that the greater volumes supported. If the corporators who are opposed to the modernization of the medical center are truly interested in the well-being of EMMC and the patients it serves, they would do well to understand the alternatives and the risks involved.

This commentary was signed by Sandra Blake-Leonard, past president, EMMC Auxiliary; Pauline Rock, president, EMMC Auxiliary; and Joan Osler, president-elect, EMMC Auxiliary.