The MaineHealth board of trustees unanimously approved the Lincoln County Healthcare proposal to close the St. Andrews Hospital and Healthcare Center emergency department Aug. 2.
The board voted during their regular meeting at MaineHealth corporate headquarters in Portland.
The emergency department will close and be replaced by an urgent care center in April, 2013.
The Boothbay Harbor facility will cease to provide inpatient care at the same time and 50 St. Andrews employees will lose their jobs, although Lincoln County Healthcare expects to offer more than half of those employees work elsewhere in the system.
The closure of the emergency department will result in the loss of hospital status for the facility as a Medicare regulation requires hospitals to offer 24/7 emergency care.
The facility will be renamed St. Andrews Healthcare Center.
The moves have sparked concern in the community.
Boothbay Town Manager James Chaousis II, prior to the vote, said he would ask the MaineHealth board to reject the Lincoln County Healthcare proposal.
Lincoln County Healthcare spokesman Scott Shott said Chaousis made a presentation at the meeting and “the board heard what he and the Board of Selectmen had to say.”
Chaousis said he asked the board for more time, at a minimum, for the region to examine the impacts of the changes.
He said he’s not sure how the town, which has offered the most vocal organized opposition to the changes thus far, will proceed. The Board of Selectmen will discuss the matter at their Aug. 13 meeting, he said.
“We are trying to come to a realization that these are final decisions,” he said.
