Since Lincoln County Healthcare announced last August its plan to close St. Andrews Hospital’s emergency room, the conversation about that decision has been dominated largely by its opponents. That may change.

On February 21, CEO Jim Donovan released the first of two white papers, or official reports, entitled “Answering Questions about the Future of St. Andrews Hospital, which addresses several community concerns, including governance, conflicts of interest, finances and the hospital’s relationship with MaineHealth. Donovan said the paper will be mailed to households across Lincoln County. 

“A lot of false charges have been made and a lot of misinformation is out there,” Board of Trustees Chairman Pete Mundy said. “We have been waiting for the task force to reach its conclusions, which they have. The purpose of the white papers is to provide the facts to the community and to answer these charges.”

Donovan said the next white paper will talk about the challenges of the current and future healthcare environment and their vision for the future of healthcare services in the Boothbay Region. 

“We hope the white papers will help set the context for the community meeting we plan for March 20,” Donovan said.

Sue Mello can be reached at 207-844-4629 or sumello@boothbayregister.com.