During the Plymouth Common Council meeting Monday evening, Councilman Greg Compton brought up an urgent need he’s hearing about. He said, “I think there is an urgent need for our city and county and the council as well to be aware of the crisis in our community. The crisis is our healthcare.”
Compton said it started with the closure of Dr. Holm’s office at the LifePlex and hundreds of people who are now without a doctor because of it. He mentioned the Intensive Care (IC) unit at Saint Joseph Health Care in Plymouth is closing and he fears doctors might not want to do surgeries at the hospital anymore because there won’t be an IC unit available for emergencies.
He asked, “What’s next and when is next? Will it be tomorrow, next week, or next month?” He said, “Are planning on closing our hospital? We don’t know because Trinity is not communicating with either the county or the city in regard to this crisis.”
Compton explained that the Plymouth Hospital is one of 88 hospitals that Trinity Health has, and the clinic was one of 125 clinics they have. He said, “Trinity has about $20 billion in annual revenues that they generate from their hospitals and clinics.”
The city councilman said, “The county is already forming some committees to look at this and see what alternatives we might have to health care in Marshall County if something does happen. They are going to work with the city now to file an injunction towards Trinity to force them to let us know what their intentions are.”
Councilman Compton told the council, “Our social and economic implications are great if we don’t have a hospital. It will be difficult to bring in new industries and businesses if we don’t have a hospital or an active hospital that is worthwhile.”
Compton asked the mayor and council to consider forming a committee that includes some of the council people, some business leaders, and doctors to take a closer look and work closely with the county. “We need to take a serious look at the crisis we have and take some action.”
Mayor Senter questioned Councilman Compton saying, “You keep saying Trinity, but I also know that somehow Loyola is involved in this too. Do you know the difference?” He said Trinity bought out Saint Joseph, and the Saint Joe Corporation is still there, and I don’t know the answer to that.” He went on to say no one is getting answers from Trinity as to what their intentions are.
Compton said, “I’ve seen emails going to Sean our attorney to maybe look at joining the injunction to try to force them to communicate with us.” He went on to say, “I think in the meantime there are a lot of people in our community who want to look at other alternatives, so we are not left without health care.”
Mayor Senter thanked him for his comments but there was no discussion of creating a committee for joining with the county on an injunction.
