MDI Hospital offers primary care service to patients abandoned by Northern Light

SOUTHWEST HARBOR, June 2, 2024 - In the wake of the recent announcement that the primary care clinic on Herrick Road will close Aug. 30, executives of MDI Hospital will appear at the library Wednesday to field questions on how they plan to serve those patients on the Quietside.

“Our Health Centers in Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, and Bar Harbor are accepting new patients,” the hospital announced.

“We encourage you to join MDIH President/CEO Chrissi Maguire, Community Health Center (CHC) Director & Physician Tanya Hanke, Peter Witham, MD & Medical Director of MDIH Health Centers, and SVP Dana Fadley on June 5th for an Info Session at the SWH Public Library to learn more about our Community Health Center in SWH and our other island health centers.”

The session will start at 4 p.m.

The select board last Tuesday received a petition with 315 signatures protesting the closure of the clinic, which was funded by local residents and businesses in 1961.

Susan Buell told the select board, “This was a brutal, brutal closing with no warning and no input. And 1,600 patients? Where do they think everyone's gonna go?

Board chair Carolyn Ball said several board members have initiated their own inquiries.

In particular, some are trying to determine whether that building has covenant restrictions as a single use, since that was the intent of area residents who raised money to buy the property and gift it to Maine Coast Medical for $1 in 1961.

Ball said she tried to make some calls to Northern Light without success.

“They don't have a vice president in Northern Light who's in charge of facilities. I tried to call administration but no answer. And they referred me to maintenance at Northern Light Hospital.

“Is that really the place to find out about what we need to find out about? If it's not going to be used as a health clinic, could it be used for affordable housing, something that fits with a nonprofit?”

Northern Light Medical announced last month the practice will relocate and combine with a larger full-service primary care practice on Resort Way in Ellsworth.

“Because of continued staffing challenges and the high cost of facility maintenance and improvements, combining our current Southwest Harbor services with Ellsworth makes the most sense,” Joe Gaetano, vice president of operations for Northern Light Blue Hill and Maine Coast Hospitals, was quoted in the Islander. “In order to offer continued excellent high quality primary care and ancillary services to our community, moving this care is the best option.”

Nine employees currently work at the clinic, said Kelley Columber, director of communications at Northern Light for Blue Hill and Ellsworth. She said that they will be offered positions in Ellsworth or at other Northern Light facilities.

Northern Light informed the staff about the closure on April 29.

Correction

BAR HARBOR - In my last post, I misquoted Bar Harbor councilor Maya Caines’s remarks at the Sept. 19, 2023 Town Council meeting when she made the motion to disband the cruise ship committee.

Here was her entire quote:

“I think the issue is that the committee's perception by what I see as the majority of the public is like it feels corrupt, it feels like it's not doing what its initial purpose was. And I don't think that we can just say, well, you know, they're not all bad and and they're trying their hardest, which might be true, but if the public feels like that's not the case and and seeing that and feels like there's corruption and that’s based on the representation on the committee, I think we need to look at it and right now with the cruise ship litigation and what's going on with that, I just think that we need to be taking a step forward and looking at this in a more holistic way.”