By M. LISA MONROE

Express Editor

Almost 100 community members gathered in the gymnasium at the Park Avenue building on Tuesday, May 15, to ask questions and gather information about the upcoming changes at the Health Center.

The town board scheduled the informational meeting to give the public a chance to ask questions about the future of the center.

At its last meeting the town board elected to pursue a lease agreement with St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. With this decision, the board is moving toward no longer subsidizing the Health Center.

Bob Scholefield, the Chief Operating Officer of St. Elizabeth’s was on hand to answer questions and explain what St. E.’s role will be in the future of the Health Center.

In his opening remarks, TOW Supervisor Ted Riehle said that the board still had details that had to be worked out concerning the dentist’s office and the physical therapist’s offices but that they felt that an agreement with St. Elizabeth’s would work to the town’s advantage.

“It came down to a business decision,” said Riehle. “St. E’s was more economical for the town.”

Scholefield then took the podium and explained that St. Elizabeth’s had been established in 1866 and has run auxiliary clinics since 1975. The hospital currently runs 14 clinics. They are willing to take over full responsibility for the operations of the Health Center, which would include employees and upkeep of the building. During an interview after the meeting Scholefield said that of the auxiliary clinics that St. E’s runs only two of them have closed since 1990.

Scholefield anticipates hiring two doctors for the health center and maybe getting extra help during the busy summer months. He said that the Health Center’s hours would be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and during an interview he said that the lab’s hours would remain the same as they are now in response to some of the concerns brought up during the pubic information meeting.

One of the big changes will be that the Health Center, as run by St. E’s will take almost all types of insurance. And Riehle said in an interview that the new health center will even be able to take worker’s compensation cases.

Danny Rivet, a local EMT, brought up the idea of having the center open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. He said that the volunteer ambulance workers have a challenging time keeping up with all of the demands that the summer visitor place on the volunteers. He thought that the hours should be expanded to relieve some of that pressure.

Scholefield said that he didn’t think that they could get doctors who would be willing to sign on to work those hours. He has committed to the board that they will try to find doctors to work some Saturdays, especially during the summer. Schole-field said that he has already had some doctors express tentative interest in working in Old Forge.

“I’ve had people say to me, ‘If we ever open a place in Old Forge let me know.’ So I’ve had some nibbles in the past,” said Scholefield.

The doctors that St. E’s wants to hire for the Health Center would be fully certified as doctors of internal medicine or family practitioners. He also said that they would supplement the two doctors with physician’s assistants and/or nurse practitioners.

During an interview Scholefield explained that they are looking for doctors for Old Forge both locally and nationwide. He also said that he thought the positions wouldn’t be too difficult to fill.

“The practice and location are very desirable, to live in a small town and become a part of that kind of community that is also a vacation destination should be very appealing,” said Scholefield.

He went on to say that the competition for doctors is fierce and that there are thousands of openings and only so many doctors to fill them but he’s cautiously optimistic.

Dr. Tom Socash is leaving the center and Dr. Mark Webster is starting to plan for his retirement, so the time was good to start looking at the future of the center. The town owns the building and has staffed the Health Center, but the doctors have always had a private practice. When the lease agreement for the building is finalized, the practice will be taken over by St. Elizabeth’s and the staff will work for St. E’s.

“The medical profession is so complicated now, we want to leave it to the professionals,” said Riehle in an interview.  

According to St. Elizabeth’s Chief Operating Officer, Bob Scholefield, the current staff of the Health Center will have to meet the employment requirements of St. Elizabeth’s hospital and their seniority will not carry over.

“They’ll be brand new St. E’s employees,” said Scholefield during an interview. “Our preference is to keep the employees, and we think a majority will keep working [at the center].”

The next steps for the town will be to get the lease agreement done. St. Elizabeth’s will take the building in its current condition, and will be responsible for getting their space in the building up to code. The building has been inspected by the St. Elizabeth’s group and Scholefield said that it was in very good condition and big enough to suit their needs, even excluding the square footage in the dentist’s office and the physical therapist’s office. He said that right now the biggest concerns are that the bathrooms need to be more accessible and the air conditioning needs to be overhauled. There are also some cosmetic changes that need to be made.

“The next eight to 12 months are going to be difficult. Everyone is going to have to get used to the transition. We don’t want to take out anything like the wooden display cases with all the fish hooks, but the office does need to be updated. We try to make things work within unique practices like you have there,” said Scholefield during an interview.

The town will be responsible for making changes to the physical therapist and dentist offices.

Scholefield says that it should take 30 to 60 days to get the building up to codes, and Riehle says the lease agreement won’t come before the board for a vote for at least 60 days. Once the lease, which will probably be for 15 years, is written there will be a 30 day waiting period to see if members of the public would like petition for a permissive referendum. If enough voters signed a petition asking for it, the lease agreement would have to come up for a public vote.

During an interview Scholefield said that he thought that it would be at least six months before St. E’s would be in place, and that he thought it would be at least a year before the new practice is up and running at 100 percent.