RUMFORD – A consultant working with Rumford Hospital on a permit to renovate and expand the facility delivered a 10-page response to the Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday outlining why the certificate of need should be granted.

A preliminary report issued by a committee of the state agency recommended denial of the certificate of need last week.

Hospital Chief Executive Officer John Welsh said Wednesday that the response more emphatically outlines why the $6.2 million project should go ahead.

“I feel we have addressed their concerns so Commissioner Brenda Harvey will approve our application,” he said.

The state’s preliminary report said that Rumford Hospital does not need the addition/renovation, that the project would not improve the health of the community, and that the proposal was not consistent with the state health plan, among other things.

Welsh said the response further details the importance of building the addition that would allow 25 single rooms, an action that would reduce the number of infections and make for shorter hospital stays. The proposed addition/renovation would also consolidate the three nursing stations into one, resulting in better efficiency, and upgrade the bathrooms and heating systems, install showers, and make facilities in rooms handicapped accessible.

Welsh also outlined the many ways the hospital reaches into the community, and the part it plays in the overall health care provision to people in the River Valley area.

Peter E. Chalke, president of Central Maine Healthcare, the organization Rumford Hospital is affiliated with, also submitted a letter to Phyllis Powell, manager of the certificate of need unit at the DHHS, outlining the organization’s philosophy and how Rumford Hospital fits into it.

Among the items emphasized was the importance to the health of residents to have a modern facility nearby.

Gov. John Baldacci, who visited the hospital on Monday, said the proposed renovation/expansion made a lot of sense to the community.

“This hospital is doing everything right,” he said Monday night. “I’ll share my review with Brenda Harvey.”

Welsh said he expects a final decision by Harvey sometime early next week.

If the project is given the green light, it would be completed in about 18 months. If not, Welsh said he would reapply next spring.

The cost of the project would be paid by Rumford Hospital and Central Maine Healthcare.