Peggy Pinkham, President and CEO of St. Andrews Hospital and Healthcare Center (and wife of Rotarian I.J.), spoke on "The Future of Healthcare in Lincoln County" at the meeting of the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club on Thursday.

A year-long study concluded that a new, state-of-the-art facility in Edgecomb that would merge the existing Miles and St. Andrews hospitals would cost too much to build to result in financial benefits through shared services, Peggy said.

Instead, the two healthcare organizations, which are already partnered through the Maine Care system, are moving ahead to share some specific services and senior administrative staff. Already, some time ago the two hospitals recognized the need for both an oncology care facility and a dialysis unit in Lincoln County. As a result, St. Andrews invested in the oncology care facility and Miles in the dialysis unit, better serving patients across Lincoln County.

Now, a new, combined board of trustees for St. Andrews and Miles has been selected with equal representation from each community. Effective January 1, 2008, this new board will supersede the two existing Boards of each healthcare organization. Already, the prospective board is meeting twice month-ly to develop bylaws and articles of incorporation, and to begin thinking about next steps. Possibilities include shared governance and a single CEO with responsibilities for both healthcare organizations, as well as continuing to look for ways to combine specialized services while maintaining the existing, separate campuses.

Peggy stressed that the work of the new board has just begun, and that it is not yet possible to map out just what the new, combined healthcare organization will look like.

Earlier in the evening, President Skip received universal acclaim with his suggestion that, in keeping with Thanksgiving tradition and the delicious turkey-and-trimmings dinner Chef Kim had just served, we donate all monies collected at the meeting to the food pantry. As a result, augmented by 50/50 dollars contributed by winners Bill Kautzmann and Marty Helman, happy dollars teased out by sergeant-at-arms Dwight Swisher thanking our veterans for their service and our children and grandchildren for just being there, plus an after-dinner bid by Connie Jones for a "leftover" pumpkin pie, the evening netted $151 for the Boothbay Region Food Pantry. (Note: President Skip's auction capabilities with regards to the pie reminded us once again how lucky we are that auctioneer Bob Foster donates his services to us each summer at our annual Charity Auction.)

Judy deGraw, just returned from her third trip to Safe Passage in Guatemala, said that a highlight this trip was taking her sponsor child Ingrid and the girl's entire family out to lunch at Burger King. The lunch marked the first time Ingrid's grandmother had traveled by car or been inside a restaurant. Mike Thompson, also just returned from Safe Passage, said that if the opportunity ever arose, all members should try to get to Guatemala. "Safe Passage takes care of you from the time you step off the airplane," he said. "It's an incredible opportunity to really understand why it's so critical that the Club spend one-third of our budget on international service."

Sue Kreahling pointed out that with the end of the calendar year approaching, now is a good time to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Rotary Foundation. Rotary has been instrumental in drastically reducing incidence of polio worldwide, and today, polio is endemic in only four countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But because each child must be immunized every year for several years to be completely inoculated against the disease, and because these countries have large migratory populations that just aren't available for follow-up treatments, completely eradicating polio remains a tough challenge.

President Skip announced that our evening devoted to concession sales at the Seahawks game last month netted the Boosters Club a total of $713. Go Seahawks!

There will be no meeting November 22 so that we can all enjoy Thanksgiving with our families. The following Thursday, November 29, Eileen King, Superintendent of Schools, will update us on school consolidation plans for the Boothbay Region. Viv Daniels will be greeter that evening and offer the invocation, with Jason Lorrain and Brenda Blackman as waiters and Connie Jones as program chair. Monthly house­keeping assignments in November are: Seth Hedgcock, steward; Deb Graves, innkeeper; Chip Griffin, 50/50; and Dwight Swisher, Sergeant-at-Arms.

The meeting on December 6 will be devoted to a club assembly and ever-popular classification talks. On Thursday, December 13, Carolyn Johnson, a Yarmouth Rotarian and frequent visitor to our Club, will update us on the Guatemala Literacy Project, which provides much-needed textbooks and pencils - as well as hope - to children attending school in Guatemala's rural areas. The following Tuesday morning, December 18, we will kick off holiday festivities by visiting the Damariscotta-Newcastle club for breakfast and a program featuring the Lincoln Academy Singers. That Thursday, December 20, we will have our own traditional club carol sing for residents of St. Andrews and the Boothbay Green.

Want to learn more about Rotary or about our Club? Interested neighbors, visiting Rotarians and guests are invited to join us for our weekly meetings each Thursday at our one-of-a-kind Rotary Clubhouse at 29 Oak Street in downtown Boothbay Harbor. The bell is rung and dinner is served promptly at 6:30 p.m. Then comes a short business meeting and special speaker, and the evening ends by 8:00 p.m. Check us out on the web: www.boothbayharborrotary.org.