The Boothbay Region Health and Wellness Foundation, the nonprofit that formed out of local opposition to proposed changes at St. Andrews Hospital, will hold its first annual meeting at the Railway Village on Saturday, Sept. 21.

The meeting will convene nine days before St. Andrews Hospital's planned conversion to a satellite campus of Lincoln Health, with an urgent care center instead of an emergency room, no hospital beds and its lucrative critical access designation extended to Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta.

Foremost in everyone's mind is the question of whether the foundation can stop the planned changes at the small local hospital.

Foundation President Patty Seybold said the foundation has consulted with “lots of lawyers” but would not discuss before the annual meeting any legal remedies the Foundation may seek.

“We're not done being a watchdog for the peninsula,” Seybold said.

In addition to the discussion of St. Andrews Hospital, the meeting will give the community a first-look at the Foundation's broader plans for local healthcare.

“We started out angry,” Foundation member Margaret Jones Perritt said. “But we are going to build something good from this. We've built a strong community that cares about its healthcare.”

Board members Perritt, Seybold and Jane Good outlined the broad details of the group’s long-range plans to make the Boothbay peninsula the healthiest community in the state.

Those plans, which will be detailed on Saturday night, envision a healthcare safety net that extends from at-risk kids to seniors; it encompasses local needs for health insurance, substance abuse and mental health services, and improved caregiver networks.

The Boothbay Region Ambulance Service, whose role in medical emergency response will expand after October 1, will be on hand Saturday night to help orient the community to the post-ER closure world.

Foundation members will also have the opportunity to elect new board members during the meeting.

And for those who may think the foundation's work is done, Good offered the following.

“The fight is still alive,” Good said. “This has been tough. This is tough work. But there is still a fire in our belly for this work.”

The foundation meets on September 21 at 7 p.m. at the Old Town Hall at the Boothbay Railway Village. The meeting is open to the public.

Sue Mello can be reached at 207-844-4629 or suemello@boothbayregister.com.