Mayors meet with Ardent

By GRACE WYLER

gwyler@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The mayors of Youngstown and Warren met with a potential buyer of bankrupt Forum Health this week in an effort to gain a clearer understanding of what might become of a large employer in their cities.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien met with representatives of Ardent Health Services, including chief executive David Vandewater, in separate meetings Monday.

The Tennessee-based for-profit company is in negotiations to buy Forum Health, the local health system that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2009.

A major concern for Youngstown was whether Forum’s three-hospital system would stay intact, Williams said.

Both Williams and O’Brien said Ardent representatives expressed interest in operating all of Forum’s hospitals, which include Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.

“I was very encouraged by what I heard,” Williams said.

City officials also committed to certain measures that would help Ardent move into the community and make it “more appealing for them to be here,” Williams said. He would not specify what kind of incentives or measures the city had agreed to.

O’Brien said that although there is still work to be done, negotiations are progressing.

“They are very interested in the community,” O’Brien said. “They are going through the process of due diligence, and it looks like it is progressing.”

Both mayors said they plan to meet with Ardent representatives again as negotiations continue.