SANFORD — Administrators and physicians from Southern Maine Health Care reinforced to residents this week that emergency services, the lab, and an array of services currently offered at the Sanford campus of the hospital will remain in place and several will expand.

Hospital President Ed McGeachey, Dr. Andrew Powell, who directs the Sanford emergency department, and SMHC’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Albaum headlined the first in a series of three public forums Thursday to explain upcoming changes at the Sanford campus and answer questions.

SMHC last week announced that inpatient beds won’t be offered in Sanford as of Oct. 23. That means folks who need admission to a hospital for an overnight stay will be transferred to the Biddeford campus.

But the Sanford campus will continue to operate a 24/7/365 emergency room and add observation beds to that department. There will be a new walk-in clinic, there will be more day surgery conducted here and there are plans to renovate and expand the Newton Center nursing home to offer private rooms. SMHC will continue to offer an array of diagnostic services like CT scans, MRI, mammograms and more. They plan to boost the availability of specialists in Sanford and recruit up to 10 new primary care physicians to locate in Sanford.

As well, SMHC will contract with a private ambulance company to transfer emergency room patients to Biddeford if they need to be admitted for a hospital stay.

In fact, the emergency process won’t change. Sanford is the first stop for the area’s rescue services in most cases, and will continue to be, McGeachey said. The private ambulance company will be provided quarters at the Sanford campus, to be at the ready to make transfers to the Biddeford campus. Patients won’t be billed for transfers, hospital personnel added.

Folks who need an ambulance to come to their residence will still call 911, and in Sanford, Sanford Fire Department rescue personnel will respond, as they do now, while rescue personnel from the surrounding communities will continue to respond in their towns.

McGeachey told the 15- 20 people who attended the forum at Goodall Library that as the planning process unfolded, SMHC wanted to make sure the services that were to stay in Sanford or expand to Sanford would be sustainable over the long-term.

He attributed the decision to shutter inpatient services in Sanford to the inability to provide quality patient care to so few patients, estimated at an average of 10-14 a day. Fewer patients are admitted to hospitals these days in general, and those who are tend to be sicker and require a heightened level of care that small facilities just cannot provide, he said

“We simply cannot provide the quality of care to that small number of patients,” said McGeachey.

As the meeting broke up, one woman said she was glad she attended. “It’s very reassuring,” she said.

Upcoming forums are set for at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 at Nasson Community Center in Springvale and at 6 p.m. Oct. 8 at Goodall Library in Sanford.

Hospital personnel are scheduled to make a presentation to the Sanford City Council and Sanford Regional Economic Growth Council later today.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].