Dear Editor:

Jim Donovan has denied the Health and Wellness Foundation permission to hold a peaceful farewell ceremony for the St Andrews ER in the St. Andrews parking lot on October 1 at 8 p.m., right after the urgent care center closes for the first time. In his response, he said that “... the St. Andrews ED is not closing. It is converting to an urgent care center ...”

Well, as of October 1, 2013, anyone seeking medical care between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. will find the doors to St. Andrews are locked. I call that “closed.” The ED is closed. The urgent care center is open. An urgent care center is not an emergency department.

Mr. Donovan also said that “Such a gathering will only perpetuate the ‘St. Andrews is closing’ myth that has caused confusion and concern among some members of the community.”

St. Andrews Hospital is closing. That is not a myth. A hospital has inpatients and an emergency department. As of October 1, St. Andrews will have neither.

Perhaps Mr. Donovan plans to dress up as Humpty Dumpty for Halloween. From chapter 6 of “Through the Looking Glass,” by Lewis Carroll, “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

Mr. Donovan certainly has assigned a new meaning to the word “closed.”

Nancy J. Oliphant MD
Boothbay Harbor