A group calling itself Save Jennie Stuart has filed articles of incorporation with an aim to convince Jennie Stuart Health board members to slow or abandon plans to affiliate with Deaconess Health in Evansville, Indiana.
Theresa Nichol, a former hospital board member who chairs Save Jennie Stuart, told Hoptown Chronicle that the group’s focus is on maintaining local control of Jennie Stuart Medical Center.
“Save Jennie Stuart Inc. was formed after a number of people in our community, including past JSMC board members and community leaders, began discussing their concerns when they recently learned the current board planned to transfer our hospital’s assets to Deaconess,” Nichol said. “We hoped together to strongly encourage the present board to look at other alternatives that would not change the local control of our community hospital forever.”
The group filed its articles of incorporation on Oct. 2, according to the listing on the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website.
Listed with Nichol as directors are Darrell Gustafson, a retired bank executive, and Dan Kemp, an attorney and former Hopkinsville mayor. Kemp previously expressed concerns about the Deaconess plan in an opinion piece for Hoptown Chronicle.
The group’s registered agent is Hopkinsville attorney Craig Richardson. (Running unopposed in the general election, he is slated to become the next state senator representing District 3.)
The hospital board first disclosed on Sept. 23 that it had signed a letter of intent to join Deaconess.
This begins “a due diligence process that allows both health systems to evaluate each other and finalize the specific details of the agreement that would strengthen and grow medical services for Hopkinsville and the surrounding communities,” according to a press release from Jennie Stuart. “This process is expected to be completed by late 2024 after further board and regulatory approvals.”
About a week before the hospital sent out its press release, word of a possible merger or change in ownership began to circulate in the community. Several board members confirmed they had signed nondisclosure agreements that prevented them from speaking about any merger or acquisition.
Three days prior to the hospital’s announcement, Jennie Stuart CEO Eric Lee told Hoptown Chronicle that rumors of a deal with another hospital were “pure speculation.”
According to correspondence Hoptown Chronicle obtained Tuesday through a Kentucky Open Records Act request, Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam and Hopkinsville Mayor James R. Knight Jr. have requested a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 9, with hospital board members. The letters dated Friday, Oct. 4, and signed by Nichol, Gilliam and Knight were sent to each board member individually.
In response, on Monday, hospital board chairwoman Leslie Carroll expressed a willingness to speak with the judge-executive and mayor and invited them to meet with the hospital board, administrators and Deaconess Health System CEO Shawn McCoy on Monday, Oct. 14.
“The [Jennie Stuart] team will be meeting with our employees , physician groups and members of our health system’s leadership team and will be pleased to answer your questions and also to share our collective vision for a stronger Jennie Stuart, with better resources to provide the best care possible to our patients, retain our incredibly talented medical staff and continue to serve our community,” Carroll wrote. “Our intention is for Jennie Stuart to continue to have a local board of directors and retain influence over local operations. Our board conducted a thorough evaluation, with the help of outside independent advisors, and we believe Deaconess is the right partner for us.”
Carroll also asked Gilliam and Knight to postpone any meeting they planned until after the hospital’s meeting on Oct. 14.
On Tuesday, Gilliam told Hoptown Chronicle that he and Knight intended to go ahead with their meeting. He was not certain how many of the hospital board members would accept their invitation and attend the meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Hopkinsville Municipal Center.
This story was updated to correct a mistake about a meeting planned by Knight and Gilliam. It is slated for the afternoon on Wednesday.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
