The virtual meeting was attended by local and state leaders including Lake Placid village Mayor Art Devlin, North Elba town Supervisor Derek Doty and the North Elba Town Council, Wilmington town Supervisor Roy Holzer, Essex County Director of Public Health Linda Beers, Essex County Board of Supervisors Chair Shaun Gillilland, two officials from the state Department of Health and officials from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, according to Doty.

Doty calls Holzer the “lead spokesman” in advocating for improved communications about the potential closure of the emergency room at Adirondack Health’s Lake Placid Health and Medical Fitness Center in what leaders describe as a largely opaque process between Adirondack Health and the state. Holzer has been vocal about his opposition to the proposed closure, and other local officials have echoed his call for more communication about the ER’s future from Adirondack Health after the hospital’s announcement about the possible ER closure this past October — and its recent announcement about the proposed closure of its dental care facility — took both residents and local leaders by surprise.

Holzer was also the reason for the meeting. When Hochul visited Lake Placid for the FISU Winter World University Games in January, Holzer said he had a chance to “bend her ear” for 30 seconds. After thanking her for the state’s more than half a billion investment into the area’s winter sports venues ahead of the games, he asked her if she knew about the proposed ER closure. She told Holzer she’d set up a meeting with local officials.

Doty said state officials still “held their cards close to their chest” during last week’s meeting — state officials didn’t detail whether the ER could close or their timeline for considering the closure. Doty said the meeting was more of a “sounding board” for local officials to voice their opinions and concerns about the closure, including potential problems posed by the added distance volunteer ambulance service workers in Lake Placid and Wilmington would have to drive to take patients to Adirondack Health’s ER in Saranac Lake. Devlin also said local officials talked about establishing an urgent care facility in Lake Placid regardless of whether the ER closes.

Devlin said state officials told local leaders that they’d take their concerns into consideration, and Doty said the state DOH in turn reported their concerns to Adirondack Health. As a result of the meeting, Doty said Adirondack Health is currently organizing a meeting between the hospital and local officials — tentatively scheduled for the end of the month — about the closure.

Behind closed doors

Adirondack Health Director of Communications Matt Scollin said in an email on Tuesday, March 7 that he feels Adirondack Health was “very open with the community regarding our justifications for making this change.

“And, five months later, those justifications remain the same,” Scollin wrote. “As soon as we have actionable information to share, we look forward to doing so.”

While Adirondack Health submitted a letter to the community about the closure after the hospital filed its initial closure plan with the state this past October — which highlighted inflation and pandemic-related staffing issues that contributed to a $10 million deficit last year as reasons for the proposed closure — communications with the press from the hospital and the state since then have been limited. Further communications with the public regarding the potential closure have been nonexistent.

It’s unclear how soon the ER could close if the state authorizes the closure.

Since October, all attempts from the Enterprise to obtain more information about the closure have been met with statements saying only that the hospital and the state DOH are working together to review the closure plan — a statement Scollin repeated on Tuesday — and that the closure plan is still under review by the state.

The state DOH must approve Adirondack Health’s closure plan before the emergency room can shut its doors. The News’s attempts to obtain the ER closure plan from Adirondack Health have been denied, and the Freedom of Information Law request asking the state health department for the closure plan has not yet been processed.

When reached on Tuesday for information about the status of the state’s consideration of the plan, both the Department of Health and the governor’s office responded with a email statement via Jeffrey Hammonds, the deputy director of communications for the Department of Health:

“Again, the closure plan submitted by the leadership of Adirondack Health for its Lake Placid Emergency Department remains under review with the New York state Department of Health.”