Mayor calls for conversations with Asante regarding their plans for the hospital
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
After hearing from medical professionals sounding an alarm on the future of Asante Ashland Community Hospital during the public comment period at Tuesday evening’s City Council meeting, Ashland Mayor Tonya Graham told Ashland.news via email on Wednesday she plans for the city to engage in conversations with Asante once she better understands recent changes in staffing and operations at the hospital.
Graham told Ashland.news in an email that public forum comments about concerns raised by area medical professionals was the first she had heard of the issues but was aware of a national trend of difficulties with healthcare on a national level. Graham and councilors learned of conditions that could mean potentially the end for anesthesia services at the hospital in September, which would make surgeries impossible, as well as difficulties in recruiting physicians to the area.
“There are larger trends in the healthcare world that stem from the pandemic and other changes that have been underway for a long time, including facility consolidation efforts and workforce shortages,” Graham said. “I expect what we are experiencing here (in) Ashland is very much related to those realities, and I am hopeful that we can work with Asante to find a path forward to maintain the hospital services that are so important to our community.”
Ashland City Councilor Jeff Dahle, who said he and his wife were born at the hospital, also raised concerns on Wednesday following public forum comments.
“It’s extremely disconcerting to say the least,” Dahle said in an email to Ashland.news. “Regardless of ownership structure, (Asante Ashland Community Hospital) AACH obviously plays a critical role in not only the health and care of our individual citizens, but also the overall well-being of Ashland as a whole.
“While I understand that there are various market factors that are outside the City’s control, we have an unquestionable duty as community leaders to do everything in our power to ensure AACH’s future stability on behalf of our citizens.”
Broadly speaking, Dahle said he has been aware of AACH’s transitioning corporate structure for years, though he said he has not been involved in any recent specific discussions as to its status.
“I am very thankful for Dr. John Maurer and others in our medical community for bringing this extremely important issue to Council’s and indeed the entire community’s attention as this issue affects every single one of us in Ashland,” Dahle said.
Graham, a 27-year Ashland resident, also emphasized the impact of having a full-service hospital in Ashland has on the community and on her own family.
“Access to a wide range of health services is incredibly important to the fabric of our community, particularly as we continue to work to encourage people toward public transportation to meet our climate goals,” Graham said. “It also impacts our fire and emergency services as transporting patients to Medford takes a lot longer than transporting them across town, which can affect service levels. Having a full range of hospital services in town is important for our quality of life as well, particularly given our demographics.
“A member of my family had an emergency appendectomy a few years ago and it was so much easier to manage that situation in town. If the surgery had to happen in Medford, it would have added significantly more stress to an already stressful situation.”
When asked about the possibility of Asante defaulting on its affiliation agreement signed when it purchased the hospital from the city of Ashland in 2013, Graham said it is too early to determine.
“What is clear is that we need to have a wide range of hospital services in Ashland and that means having a community-wide conversation about the concerns that are being voiced so that we can better understand the changes underway at the hospital and determine the best next steps for Ashland,” Graham said.
Graham and Dahle both shared additional, tentative plans to learn more about the situation and continue the conversation.
Dahle said he would like to prioritize discussions with city leadership and stakeholders to proactively outline all available options in order to ensure AACH’s future stability and continued critical operations for the city of Ashland.
“The next steps are to meet with concerned community members and city staff to get a better understanding of the concerns, recent changes at the hospital, and the requirements of our agreement with Asante,” Graham said. “Once we have that information, we will be able to determine the best way to engage the community in a council level conversation.”
Asante had not responded to a request for additional comment by the time this story was published late Wednesday.
Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at hollyd@ashland.news.
Related stories:
Future of Ashland hospital: Concerned Ashland residents to address City Council at today’s meeting (Aug. 6, 2024)
Asante Ashland Community Hospital ICU to close by Jan. 1 (Dec. 16, 2022)
