The Board of Trustees of Lincoln County Health Care, the new shared governance and management structure for St. Andrews and Miles Memorial hospitals, is still weeks away from announcing its new chief executive officer. However, for many in this community, a very significant decision has already been made: St. Andrews CEO Peggy Pinkham will not be Lincoln County Health Care's CEO.

On May 1, the board issued the following statement: "One of the first decisions made by the Board of Trustees late last fall was to begin a national search for the right person to lead the new health system we are creating here in Lincoln County. We knew it was possible that he or she might already be working for us, and we instructed the firm, Witt/Keifer, whom we engaged to assist us, to give serious consideration to internal candidates. Peggy Pinkham did seek the position and was one of the candidates identified by Witt/Keifer, whom our Search Committee chose to interview.

"Those in-depth interviews were held here in Boothbay Harbor several weeks ago. Since the new health system we are creating is four times the size of St. Andrews, one of our goals was to find someone who had led a large hospital or healthcare organization through a consolidation or the formation of a system like ours.

"Two of the candidates were invited to return for further meetings with the Search Committee and members of our Board, medical staff, and management teams. While Peggy is not one of the CEO finalists, we hope she will remain in the new organization.

"Many members of our Board and Search Committee have worked with Peggy. All of us have the highest regard for her, and recognize the significant contribution she has made to St. Andrews and the communities it serves. We can assure you that she has been, and will continue to be, treated with the respect she has earned."

On Thursday, Peter Mundy, Vice-Chairman of the Board's Search Committee said, "This was a very difficult decision for us. We are very hopeful that Peggy will stay within the system . . . We certainly are very thankful for the leadership she has provided us in the past and hopefully, she will continue to be a leader for us."

Pinkham said she was not as yet ready to comment on the decision or her plans for the future.