Forum board members make commitment to the public

Last week was a pretty good week for people who are interested in the sale of various hospitals and facilities owned by Forum Health Care Systems.

Not all the questions were answered. That’s not going to happen during a press conference that ran a little over an hour and was attended by eight reporters and three Forum representatives.

And even the press recognizes that not every question is going to be answered by representatives of a company that is negotiating sale of assets.

And a few questions resulted in answers that were either fuzzy or contradictory.

Still, Thursday’s press conference was a positive event. Tom Hollern, chairman of Forum’s board of trustees, board member Diane Sauer and Forum CEO Dr. Keith Ghezzi went on the record with information that is important to the community. And earlier in the week, they met with Ohio Atty. Gen. Marc Dann, the area delegation to Ohio’s General Assembly and the mayors of Warren and Youngstown in a session that was clearly designed to make Forum officials aware that they can no longer expect to conduct the sale of Forum’s assets as if there is no public interest and no public concern.

Hollern made it a point more than once to say that he and Sauer were appearing as “the faces of the board” and as a sign to the community that they and the 16 other trustees recognize their obligation to the community.

Ghezzi announced that both for-profit and not-for-profit entities are now looking at Forum’s asset, a departure from a statement he made in the “Forum Flash” company newsletter a week earlier. Then, Ghezzi said, “while the sale process has been open to all bidders, at this point the potential purchasers are all for-profit companies.”

Price isn’t the only factor

Hollern said the board “is not looking for the best possible price, but for a price that is coupled with what is best for the community.” Hollern said the broker hired to conduct the sale understands the need to preserve quality care and charity care for Mahoning Valley patients.

Addressing the possible future of the Northside Medical Center, Ghezzi said Forum is committed to providing emergency room care at that site and that parties that have expressed an interest in the North Side and Beeghly Medical Park have a clear interest in maintaining operations at both sites, although the “footprint” of medical care in Youngstown would be different.

Those and other benchmarks are on the record. Hollern and Sauer have made personal public pledges that they and the rest of the board will work not just to liquidate Forum’s assets, but to preserve essential health care services in the area. Hollern said that he envisions the continuation of some sort of community-based board, even if a for-profit company buys Forum’s assets.

Those commitments and assurances, coupled with local leaders taking a stronger interest in Forum’s future, are an encouraging sign. Nearly 125 years of public support and private philanthropy built the institutions that are Forum Health today. Those pieces cannot be dismantled without proper recognition of the public’s interest.