Dear Editor:

Over the past 50-plus years, I have brought various generations of our family to the St. Andrews ER but last week was the first time someone needed to bring me. Arriving after midnight, we was greeted by an EMT specialist, a nurse and the very capable and broadly experienced Dr. Sarah Coburn. Almost immediately I was comfortable with the decision that we’d come to the right place after having considered the drive to Brunswick or Damariscotta. I say this in the context of spending too many nights in emergency rooms dealing with one of our children’s life threatening disease and having been a consultant to some of Boston and New York’s finest hospitals.

I echo the thoughts of others when I say how disappointed I am with our local Lincoln County Board members’ willingness to let St Andrews disappear as our community’s primary healthcare provider and replace it with a less than 24/7 “walk in center.”

As my wife said, “Who is going to believe us when we tell them that we had a wonderful experience in an emergency room in the middle of the night?”

Dr. Coburn has had experience both in the U.S. and abroad under differing healthcare systems and Dr. Carter, who followed up the next day, spent more than 35 years at Maine medical Center’s emergency room, running it for much of that time.

I must say that Maine Health has been able to attract two outstanding physicians to our hospital (albeit they work here less than full time) to serve our needs. In contrast, our local board’s deplorable lack action in preparing the community for this change is indisputable but it is the decision itself, be it driven by financial or other factors, is an example of town “leaders” not doing the right thing for their community.

We should all support the “Save St. Andrews” and other initiatives to keep our hospital open and not just give up hope that this very important part of our way of life must disappear.

Nick Hurd
Southport