By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Presiding over his first Massena Memorial Hospital board meeting, interim MMH CEO Charles Gijanto says he is focusing primarily on “four priorities that need to be worked on simultaneously.”

Gijanto takes the helm at MMH as the third CEO since June. At the Board of Managers’ August meeting, they voted to hire him as a nine-month interim to replace former interim CEO Ann Gilpin. She had been hired in June for no more than two months to replace former CEO Bob Wolleben, who at the same time abruptly resigned for reasons that have not been explained.

The newest interim CEO says his four priority areas are ongoing asset transfer negotiations with the town, the affiliation process, budget and strategic planning for 2019 and the culture within the hospital.

MMH is in the process of transitioning from a town-owned entity to a privatized non-profit facility. They have received IRS approval to become a 501c3 non-profit.

"The workload with the actual starting of a new corporation is very significant," Gijanto told the board. "A lot of work has been done on that already. I think my impression thus far is there is a good tailwind behind this."

Last month, the town and hospital released a joint statement saying the two boards had reached an asset transfer deal “in principle.” Nothing has been finalized, and MMH Board Chair Scott Wilson said there is no timetable.

Hospital officials are also trying to find an affiliate. Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy early in the summer said they were negotiating with St. Lawrence Health System, but he has said nothing more on the subject since.

Gijanto called choosing an affiliate the "biggest decision this body will make.”

"What is going to be the best fit for Massena Memorial going forward? How good do we feel about ourself as partners?” he said. "We need to be prepared to run [the new non-profit entity] while we move toward affiliation."

Gijanto said focusing on in-house culture “might seem a little bit incongruent” with his other priorities, but he believes keeping employees “tied to us as we move forward” could help reverse negative trends like the large monthly financial losses.

"It's going to be essential we keep our staff and our physicians engaged with us and committed to Massena Memorial, and we need to do that without spending more money,” he said to the board. "We can't do it without staff and physician support.”

He said he recently hosted an open forum with MMH staffers and was pleased with the outcome.

"It was very well attended and good questions," he said. "I am the third CEO in four months but they're starting to realize I’m here for the duration of this process and forward and we're going to ride that out."