CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The CEOs for the Nueces County Hospital District and CHRISTUS Spohn Health System met Friday to talk about saving the hospital’s Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
CHRISTUS Spohn Health System CEO Dominic ‘Dom’ Dominguez recently announced the program’s closure, a decision which has angered many people.
But county officials want to see what -- if anything -- can be done to save it.
Johnny Hipp met with Dominguez in a closed-door meeting that didn't include Nueces County commissioners, a meeting Hipp tells 3NEWS was positive. He said he requested from CHRISTUS Spohn its cost to run the program
"Michael, I am optimistic,” he said. “Something can be worked out. As I said a while ago, I really don't wanna take anything off of the table as far as possibilities."
Commissioners John Marez and Brent Chesney are on an ad-hoc committee set up to try and save the ER training program.
"The fact that they are calling a special meeting with no one else included is a little concerning on my part, but as long as they come to a resolution and tell us what the answer is -- if they can't do it and their finances can't do it -- then fine: Let's try and find another solution," said Nueces County Pct. 3 Commissioner John Marez.
He said the commissioners court will make every effort to save the program – within reason.
“We're not going to bankroll the full program if a particular hospital system doesn't want to support it, but I think us as a community have made a decision to support the health and welfare of all of our citizens,” Marez said Friday. “That's one of the main charges of commissioner courts."
From here, Hipp says he will be working on looking at the information CHRISTUS Spohn Health System provided and will then share those financial numbers with the hospital district board, and then county commissioners.
Marez is hoping that this entire process will be wrapped up before the holidays.