Fremont hospital joins ProMedica

Hospital officials say Memorial Hospital will remain a local hospital, with its own board, even as it becomes part of the ProMedica system.The hospital announced Friday it has officially completed joining ProMedica, a nonprofit health care organization in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. ProMedica operates 12 affiliate hospitals in Toledo, Oregon, Defiance, Lima, Fostoria, Sylvania and other locations. In Port Clinton, it runs Bay Park Women's Services and ProMedica Laboratories.Memorial Hospital hasn't officially chosen a new name, although if it follows the branding strategy for other hospitals, it will be known as "ProMedica Memorial Hospital," said Randy Oostra, president and chief executive officer for ProMedica.Even as Memorial joins ProMedica, it will retain its own board and its own foundation and be represented in ProMedica's committee structure, Oostra said. It will have a seat on ProMedica's governing board, he said.The absorption into ProMedica's system gives Memorial access to additional resources, Oostra said."We have areas of expertise a smaller organization can't afford," he said. "They like the fact that we were local, based in Toledo"Pamela Jensen, president of Memorial Hospital, said while Memorial offers cardiac care, people who need open heart surgery are sent to Toledo. The process of sharing information between the cardiologist in Fremont and the surgeon in Toledo is seamless, she said."The local cardiologist here is a member of the group in Toledo who will be performing the procedure" she explained. "We have the same information system" Oostra said. Jensen, who became Memorial's president in January 2013, will begin her second year focusing on integrating Memorial's programs with the ProMedica system.Memorial has about 600 employees and that's unlikely to change, Jensen said. Oostra said ProMedica plans to make significant investments in Memorial, just as it has in other hospitals in the chain.Memorial Hospital opened in 1918 and has 180 beds. Its offerings include an emergency room, surgeries, a pediatric unit and a birthing center.