Dear Editor:

We need to convince the Maine state regulators that it isn’t just a “vocal minority” that cares about having accessible, affordable healthcare.

Please come to the St. Andrews/Miles Memorial Public Hearing on Thursday, Dec. 19 at the Boothbay Harbor Town Hall starting at 10 a.m. to let the “powers that be” know how you feel about losing St. Andrews’ 24-hr. ER and all of our hospital beds.

We need to ask why a nonprofit, chartered to serve the residents of the Boothbay peninsula, has been allowed to merge with another hospital and move all of our patient-critical services off our peninsula.

We need to ask why it’s OK for there to be only 25 hospital beds in Lincoln County instead of 63. We need to ask why we can’t have a 24-hour urgent care center? We need to ask why it’s OK to have a combined board of trustees comprised primarily of physicians and corporate management make decisions that impact our community’s safety and economic viability.

We need to ask why the customers of a tax-exempt nonprofit have no say in what happens to the institution they have supported and used for 105 years.

Please come and be counted!

Patty Seybold
Boothbay