By ANDY GARDNER
North Country Now

MASSENA -- The new chairperson of the Massena Memorial Hospital Board of Managers is criticizing the town supervisor’s appointment of a St. Lawrence Radiology doctor to the MMH board.

Susan Bellor, who was appointed MMH board chair last month, said Dr. Michael Maresca represents a conflict of interest and lives outside the MMH service area.

She attended Wednesday night’s Town Council reorganizational meeting and voiced her discontent with Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy’s choice.

“MMH has had a contract for Radiology services for over 20 years. This is a direct conflict of interest with his recent appointment to the hospital’s Board of Managers. The contract represents millions of dollars annually to St. Lawrence Radiology,” Bellor said in a written copy of her remarks provided to North Country Now by the MMH public relations office.

“Dr. Maresca does not live in the hospital’s primary or secondary service area. His home is in Hannawa Falls.”

Tina Corcoran, MMH director of public relations and planning, said Maresca has done work at MMH since 1990. He does not receive money directly from the hospital. He bills separately and is either paid by the patient or reimbursed by an insurance company.

Corcoran said new MMH board members are required to sign conflict of interest declarations each year. She said Maresca has not yet gone through orientation, but will have to sign the form and abstain from taking any actions where there would be a conflict.

Two other members have signed conflict of interest declarations - Paul Morrow, who operates the Skinstich medical supply company, and Real “Frenchie” Coupal, who owns and operates Frenchie’s auto sales. Corcoran said Coupal’s business sometimes does maintenance and repairs on MMH vehicles.

In Bellor’s remarks, she also disagrees with O’Shaughnessy’s preference that MMH affiliate with St. Lawrence Health System. Maresca is chair of the SLHS imaging department, according to their website.

MMH is in the process of transitioning from a public, town-owned hospital to a private, non-profit facility. Part of that includes affiliating with a larger health network.

At their Dec. 17 meeting, the Board of Managers voted to recommend affiliating with Claxton-Hepburn/North Star and Crouse Hospital.

“We have been extremely deliberate over the past three years in the overall process of choosing one which closely aligns with our key objectives and goals of maintaining healthcare in this community,” Bellor said in her statement.

“The Board has spent countless hours on this initiative through attending presentations, consulting with affiliation strategists, evaluating support collateral and making on-site visits in order to ensure that we had a complete understanding of those potential partners and what they would offer us before any decision was to be made. We have selected the best possible choice for the greater Massena community in which our hospital serves. This decision will preserve the healthcare that is delivered and also the over four hundred jobs.”

Another MMH board member, Loretta Perez, also addressed the Town Council on Wednesday night. She was just re-appointed to a new five-year term.

“I thanked the board for having faith in me to re-appoint me,” Perez said summarizing her remarks in a Thursday phone interview. “I said to them my focus will be on saving the hospital … and I believe the only way to do that is to affiliate with Crouse.

“I think Crouse is going to help us remain open, keep our patients here, enhance our services … I worry a hospital 20 miles away doesn’t need us.”

Two other members whose terms had expired are no longer on the board. O’Shaughnessy did not re-appoint Scott Wilson due to disagreement over the direction the hospital is heading. He was board chair. And John Horan opted not to serve another five years. He could not be reached for comment.

O’Shaughnessy did not return phone calls seeking comment.