The April 11 legislative hearing on Rep. Bruce MacDonald’s bill to mandate local referendums on a new hospital administrative district ran from afternoon into evening. The Committee on State and Local Government will consider the bill further in a work session that has not yet been scheduled.

Reached after the hearing, attendees said much of the testimony and discussion focused more on how and why Lincoln County Healthcare had made its decision to close St. Andrews’ emergency room than on the bill.

Task force volunteer Patty Seybold wrote in an email, “Although we came expecting to focus on simply asking for our right to hold a referendum in each town, the committee members' questions showed that they were clearly sympathetic to our plight. They wanted to understand the history of how we had come to this impasse.”

MacDonald (D-Boothbay) said he was concerned about committee’s focus on the underlying issue rather than the legislation. “My fear is they will substitute their view of the merits of closing little hospitals. The bill asks for one thing, for permission to hold referendums in the four towns,” he said.

Lincoln County Healthcare CEO Jim Donovan, who testified against the bill, said of the hearing, “This is new territory for us: to be dealing with a bill whose goals are unclear and to be talking about it to a committee that is a not a healthcare committee. A lot of the committee members were getting a crash course in healthcare.”

MacDonald and Boothbay selectman Chuck Cunningham, who testified in favor of the bill, said the committee also seem interested in the community taking more time to resolve the issue locally.

“I feel there is support from the committee to move this bill forward. There was also discussion about the need for more time to work things out locally,” Cunningham said. “I’m looking forward to sitting down with Lincoln County Healthcare and working on this some more.”

Boothbay Harbor Selectman Robert Splaine, who testified against the bill, said he thought the issue should go back to the municipalities for further consideration. Splaine testified that the task force “had the deleterious effect of causing difficulties in expressing opinions at the municipal level.”

“I went to the hearing because I feel very strongly that the people of the harbor haven’t been well-represented in this,” Splaine said. “I was happy we had a chance to air both sides in an environment where there was sufficient order that one side could not belittle the other.”

Jeff Curtis, Vice Chair of the LCH Board of Trustees joined trustees Bill Logan and Mary Jo Zimmerli in testifying against the bill. Curtis, who has served on the Board for 16 years, said he was encouraged by the strong community interest in healthcare shown by the large turnout, despite the disagreement about the best approach.

“I think the legislation is a bad idea because it authorizes a third competing hospital,” Curtis said, “We (the trustees) have been working so hard to get beyond that competition model.”

Curtis said when St. Andrews and Miles Memorial Hospital competed for patients, both hospitals fared worse because of the small number of patients seeking services in the area. “Since we started working together healthcare has been better,” Curtis said.

MacDonald said he doesn’t believe the HAD would result in another hospital on the peninsula. “We’re asking for the creation of another governance structure that could negotiate with Lincoln County Healthcare, to open up a dialog to the possibility of reconsidering the decision they made,” MacDonald said.

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