On Thursday, Dec. 19 from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., the Certificate Of Need Unit of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services will hold a public hearing in the Boothbay Harbor Town Office.

Recently, Lincoln County Healthcare applied for a Certificate of Need (CON) to reorganize and merge St. Andrews and Miles effective October 1, 2013. Also included in the application is a CON for the merger, which occurred in January 2008.

The foundation’s legal counsel has claimed, all along, that a corporate merger of two healthcare entities that results in a transfer of ownership of a healthcare facility requires a CON.

One cannot be permitted to side-step the legislatively mandated process. To accept that there somehow is an exception to the CON statute that allows parent corporations to transfer ownership of subsidiary hospitals without a CON not only violates Maine law, but also flies in the face of state healthcare policy intended through Maine's CON review process to protect and properly allocate scarce healthcare resources in our rural state.

In addition, the CON process is particularly important here because of the major impact that this transaction will have on the people of the Boothbay Region.

Though it is customary to hold the public hearing before a CON is granted, we are grateful to the state for the opportunity to finally be heard on the change in healthcare offerings on our peninsula.

Do we have a prayer of a chance of getting our hospital back? Probably not. We cannot unscramble that egg. We can, however, recommend that there be conditions attached to the Certificate of Need. We are going to strongly suggest that a condition be 25 skilled nursing beds for recuperation, rehab and end-of-life care be created on the St. Andrews Village “campus.”

Community members, we need your help to make this happen. The Certificate of Need Unit is coming to hear from you; they want your input. Since October 1, if you have had difficulty getting prompt medical attention, please come and tell your story. If you have had to go to Miles and been turned away due to lack of bed space, or if you have been to another hospital for a procedure and been unable to come home for rehab due to lack of bed space, or if you have been put on hold waiting for a bed, come and speak.

If you are unable to make it to the hearing, you can write your testimony and send it to the committee. (DHHS, Licensing and Regulatory Services, Certificate of Need Unit, Station House Station # 11, 41 Anthony Avenue, Augusta, ME 04333-0011; no later than 5 p.m. January 22, 2014.)

We will help by walking you through the procedure for the hearing: All speakers have to sign in; you will be called to speak by the moderator; you can speak for three minutes and it is recommended that you have notes so that you can stay on point; repetition is discouraged; and each person may speak only once.

Lincoln County Health will open with a 15-minute presentation and then others, either for or against, will be called to speak in an alternating fashion. Once again, the hearing begins at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to run until 4:30 p.m. One need not stay the whole time — come and tell your story and then you may leave — if you want to hear what others say, you may stay as long as you like. Keep in mind that the venue is small so you should arrive early to get your name on the docket and find a seat.

Help us make the case that we need more skilled nursing beds on our peninsula. Stories about situations in which it was important to have loved ones close to home are very compelling. This is your chance to do your part — to have control over your healthcare.