County officials on Tuesday ratified the formation of an ad hoc committee that is charged with providing a status report to the Board of Commissioners concerning health care access within the county and the feasibility of re-establishing urgent/emergency room care. The Cheboygan County Health Access Advisory Committee was the suggestion of Board of Commissioners Chair Linda Socha, who also proposed the appointment of seven members to the committee. Those members include Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson, who will serve as chair, as well as Cheboygan County Commissioner and registered nurse, Sue Allor; District Health Department No. 4 Administrator John Bruning; District Health Department and Northwest Michigan Health Department Medical Director Joshua Meyerson; Cheboygan County Medical Director and former Medical Control director Donald Ramsay; Cheboygan City Manager Dale Stewart; and Charlevoix-Cheboygan-Emmet Office of Emergency Management Director Gregory Williams. Socha requested the ratification at the beginning of Tuesdays regular meeting. She noted that the announcement made at Mondays rally outside Cheboygan Memorial Hospital regarding an agreement between McLaren and CMS sounded positive, but reminded the Board of Commissioners that nothing has been finalized. At this time, I would request that the Board ratify the team/committee so that if the scheduled bankruptcy proceedings on April 30 do not result in resolution of health care access, especially emergency room critical care, that this group (already researching and contacting) can immediately move into study of a systemized, rational and factional basis for recommendations to this Board for action, Socha said. She explained that the April 3 immediate closing of Cheboygan Memorial Hospital has affected everyone in the county and surrounding region. Socha said she has been continually involved and updated, along with Lawson, by various entities and offices as the situation has developed. The failure of the organization and the subsequent bankruptcy proceedings is not something the County Board is directly legally involved in, Socha said. We are, have been, and will continue to monitor day-to-day events, offer communication and contact who and when we can at all other levels of government. Socha noted that the Board of Commissioners was never officially approached by administration of the hospital at any time during the bankruptcy proceedings. Government does not typically, nor should it, intervene in the private sector legal issues, Socha said. We are not a creditor. However, Socha said that after no course of action was forthcoming in notifying those involved regarding the removal, storage and distribution of patient records in a timely manner, she decided to gather a team. Monitoring that situation when a course of action was not implemented and a very serious crisis had developed, I exercised my authority to address that issue, Socha said. My action, working quickly with Mr. Lawson, Greg Williams and Bryan Graham, was to put together a team including county and city administration and those with county-associated health background. I chose carefully so as to not appoint persons with connections to creditors, hospital past or present board members or administration or special groups, Socha said. Immediate contacts and questioning helped with the resolution of the immediate records crisis and there is now, although not ideal, at least a process for distribution. Socha said by officially forming the committee, it will require compliance of the Open Meetings Act as well as clerking of the meetings and civil counsel involvement. This will ensure that the committee meetings are open to the public and that the public can be involved. Audience members spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting and asked the Board to consider including additional representation on the committee. Leonard Page suggested employees of the hospital or members of the general public be included, and Ron Wallin noted that he hoped for a nurse or patient advocate to serve. Lori Trestain, a nurse who lost her job due to the Cheboygan Memorial Hospital closing, said much of her family was employed by the facility and was impacted greatly. Another individual, Roger Gauthier, said he was encouraged by Mondays announcement and by Tuesdays action by the Board of Commissioners. He agreed that the county should fill the role of facilitating that public concerns are heard, and should evaluate the needs of the community in order to develop options to address them. He also suggested the county could eventually create an authority to run the hospital if bankruptcy proceedings were to fail.

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County committee to look at area health care