FARMINGTON – Leeanna Wilbur of Rangeley told a packed hearing room about her 82-year-old father. He had a complex medical condition and had to be treated in Boston, hours away from his Rangeley home.

Wilbur spoke during a public hearing Monday on Franklin Memorial Hospital’s Certificate of Need application to reclassify five of its medical surgical beds as short-term skilled nursing care beds. The change in bed classification would provide a local care option and improve care for patients who have complex medical conditions or are on high cost medications or treatment that can’t be accommodated by an area nursing home.

The reclassification would also let the hospital be reimbursed by the federal government for the services it provides, protect nursing homes and save the state money, hospital President Richard Batt said at the hearing at the University of Maine.

The hospital expects the need for skilled nursing care beds to increase in the region because of an aging population, Batt said.

Wilbur said while her father was at a Boston hospital, he worried about being so far from home and he worried about her mother being so far home.

He worried about a lot of things, Wilbur said, when actually he needed to worry about getting better.

What would have helped her father, Wilbur said, was having his family close by.

Initially, once her father’s health improved, Wilbur said, she was told her father couldn’t come home to Franklin County because there wasn’t a nursing care facility that could accommodate him.

He needed a swing bed, a bed that swings with the level of care.

Through a joint effort between the two hospitals her dad was able to come home and is doing well.

It’s not right for patients to be kept from their families, Wilbur said.

She said Franklin Memorial’s proposal is right for the community.

Bill Crandall of Farmington, Richard Gyory of Wilton and Charlie Woodcock of Farmington, among others, told stories stressing the need for swing beds and support for the collaborative effort between medical providers.

The hospital had applied to get 10 licenses for short-term skilled care beds, but after nursing home representatives protested, legislators asked the parties to discuss the issues and work out a solution fair to everyone.

They did.

The hospital reduced its license request to five and Sandy River Health System has offered to sell five licenses to the hospital if the state approves the agreement.

Nursing home officials spoke in favor of the hospital’s proposal during the hearing.

“I’m so proud this community has come together to resolve this issue,” Woodcock said.

Her sentiments were echoed by many.

The state plans to close the public comment period in seven days and it should have a preliminary recommendation on the hospital’s application in a few weeks.

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