A little light at Forum?

A little light at Forum?

At this time, we will take no news from the board of trustees of Forum Health as possible good news.

The secrecy under which the board is operating as it considers its options for reorganization under the auspices of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court continues to be troubling. Forum Health, which has about 4,000 employees at its three major assets, Northside in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland, is a community-built institution. It evolved over 125 years, and as such, the community has an interest in its future. The people of the Mahoning Valley shouldn’t be subject to a surprise announcement some day that this asset, that asset or the next asset has been sold and may or may not live to provide service for an other day.

That said, we are encouraged by a Forum news release stating that a decision on the sale of Forum’s assets has been indefinitely postponed, apparently providing about six more weeks for Forum to pursue whatever alternatives it has.

Look for a lifeline

During that time, we urge the area’s congressional delegation and Gov. Ted Strickland to pursue securing federal loan guarantees that would put Forum’s out-of-state investors at ease while giving Forum as much time as it needs to reorganize in a way that best serves community interests. It would have the added benefit of protecting from loss some unquestionable community assets — the various charitable foundation funds that were used as collateral by Forum.

Forum’s operations are now being overseen by an interim CEO after creditors pushed for the ouster of Walter “Buzz” Pishkur, an area businessman who was elevated from a volunteer member of the board to the CEO’s post. Before leaving, Pishkur said he had developed a three-year plan that would have restored the hospital system to profitability without liquidating any more of its major assets. The creditors were not convinced.

A statement released by Charles Neumann, the new CEO, said: “While good progress continues to be made in our evaluation of bids and concurrent preparation of a plan of reorganization, we have determined that the process is simply too dynamic to set arbitrary deadlines for submission.”

That could mean that Forum is finding that Pishkur was essentially correct, or it could mean that prospective buyers are having second thoughts. That’s the kind of ambiguity that comes from secret deliberations and issuing prepared statements rather than operating with transparency and making available for interviews the people who could answer questions.