By CRAIG FREILICH

The two membership guilds that have supported health care providers in Canton and Potsdam for decades are considering a merger.

The Potsdam Hospital Guild and the E.J. Noble Guild have been talking about merging for a few years, according to Noble Guild President Judy Chase.

The two guilds have worked on a joint golf tournament, and have had a couple of dinner meetings, “just trying to get to know each other better,” Chase said.

She said recruiting new members has become more difficult, and that “there has been some burnout” among members of the two active non-profits, which work to raise money for and awareness of the work done at Canton-Potsdam Hospital and the former E.J. Noble Hospital in Canton, now the Canton Health Center in the E.J. Noble Building on East Main Street.

“It’s difficult to fundraise, especially in small towns. Businesses get hit up over and over, year after year. So why not join forces?” Chase said.

Chase says the merger itself is going to be more work than anyone had anticipated, mostly paperwork relating to articles of incorporation and IRS non-profit status, and votes by both boards of directors and by members of both organizations. Chase said there are 400 to 500 members of each group, “130 to 140 actually active, paying dues and volunteering.”

The Noble Guild’s annual meeting is in May and the Potsdam guild’s meeting is in June, but Chase believes not much can be accomplished then, since no merger votes can take place without a plan of merger, which probably won’t be ready for review before those meetings.

“That has to be voted on by both boards, and a copy of the plan has to go to all the members” before a binding vote can be held. Then filings in Albany are required.

“It’s more complicated than I thought it would be,” she said. She said it probably wouldn’t all be set until sometime next year.

“It’s sort of bittersweet,” said Chase, who has been a member of the Noble Guild for 14 years, and president for 11, “so I feel like I have a vested interest.”

The E.J. Noble guild has been in existence since 1951, “before the hospital was even finished,” she said. She had been contemplating “all the years that so many people have donated their time, energy and creativity” to help make the hospitals the best they could be.

Chase said there has been some talk of having co-presidents and co-treasurers and maybe alternating meeting sites. One of the concerns that has been discussed is that “we don’t want to lose our identity.”