Throughout Maine, community hospitals continue to face the significant challenge of balancing local access to quality care and services with managing a range of heavy economic pressures. Forces such as regulatory changes and rising costs, along with a rapidly aging patient population, create this complicated operating environment. As we’ve seen in many cases across the country and here in Maine, this story often results in communities losing their local access to vital healthcare services close to home.

We know that healthy citizens are paramount to a successful, vibrant community. Here in the Greater Bath-Brunswick-Topsham area, we have been fortunate to have a long legacy of high quality healthcare providers and organizations. Even the Maine Medical Association itself was founded in this community more than 160 years ago. Since that founding, however, much has changed in our community and within the broader healthcare system in Maine.

To truly preserve our local legacy of care for future generations, healthcare providers and organizations must show leadership and think together for the common good of the patients they serve. Communities must be mindful of their needs and ensure that services are adequate and aligned. Without careful attention to that delicate balance, the economics will eventually weaken local systems beyond repair.

For so many years, Parkview Adventist Medical Center faced a complicated marketplace independently — all with the good of patients and our community in mind. However, market conditions have become too heavy to bear alone. To maintain the longstanding mission at Parkview Adventist Medical Center, common sense and local cooperation are required. Within its bankruptcy filing with the court this week, Parkview unveiled a proposed local solution that will allow its mission to continue for generations to come.

Under this proposed approach as Mid Coast-Parkview Health, Parkview and Mid Coast will not only be financially stronger, but better positioned to care for our patients, improve the overall health of our community, and preserve valuable jobs in our community. Subject to court approval, our shared vision as Mid Coast-Parkview Health is to develop one independent, integrated organization, bringing the best of our legacies, traditions and resources together to provide the highest quality care close to home and lower the overall cost of healthcare.

Our community understands how to bring institutions together successfully. We are one of the only communities in the state with experience in integrating the acute care services of two hospitals with the 2001 merger of Bath Memorial Hospital and Brunswick’s Regional Memorial Hospital. Now, our proposed approach and vision for the health of the community will preserve and strengthen the missions of two beloved local organizations for generations to come..

Of course, the best way to improve the overall health of our community is through cooperation at the local level. We cannot do this alone. Building the best regional healthcare model begins by working together — civic, business and community leaders alike — to ensure that we have the right mix of services that complement each other, and meeting local needs without excess services and unnecessary costs.

While the economics are critical, the successful model begins with our patients. We know that our patients and the community value the importance of a strong, local healthcare system — one that is uniquely qualified to care for the needs of our region. It is incumbent on all of us then to find a way to provide affordable, accessible services that patients in our community not only need, but deserve.

If approved by the court, Parkview Adventist Medical Center and Mid Coast Health Services will offer our community an integrated healthcare system tailored to meet our specific care needs — with an emphasis on prevention and wellness, high quality access to comprehensive healthcare, and centered on the individual needs of the patient and our community. We will create a lasting, unified plan, designed to ensure the continued availability of high quality, locally-delivered healthcare close to home.

As communities continue to grapple with the complicated issue of cost-effective, local delivery of healthcare services, let us demonstrate that combined strength through a shared vision can serve as an example of how we can come together to solve problems, preserve access, and do what is best for the people we serve. As Mid Coast-Parkview Health, we will stand stronger and healthier together.

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Randee Reynolds is president and CEO of Parkview Adventist Medical Center; Lois Skillings is president and CEO of Mid Coast Health Services.