The topic of local health care came up at the Town of Webb board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, as the local health center closes in on a new era.

The meeting was held at Webb’s municipal building in Old Forge.

Ron Smith, a member of the public assembly, asked the board about the role of the community in the Health Center’s future.

Smith said he was curious about the Health Center Fund (HCF) group and how it would fit with Health Center operations under St. Elizabeth’s Medical Group. And whether community help was needed as the group moves forward.

St. Elizabeth’s is to lease the facility in the coming weeks, assuming health center operations. Smith said he hoped existing quality would be maintained and even improved under the new arrangement.

He said he and other community members could be called upon if their services were thought to be of assistance.

Supervisor Ted Riehle said that for a variety of reasons, the future stability of local health care is best ensured through a hospital group, such as St. E’s, rather than a private practice.

And under this arrangement a more hands-off approach would be necessary. He said the community would do well to offer support to St. E’s.The town board would do well to forward community concerns. But the town board would not be in a position to dictate practices to St. E.’s under the contract arrangement, nor should it be, Riehle said.

All this raises the question…

What is the future role of the Health Center Fund, which has traditionally played a large role in supporting the health center and its doctors, as the Town of Webb enters this new era of health care?

Hazel Dellavia, president of the Health Center Fund, spoke to the issue.

She said the Fund’s role will certainly change. But the Fund’s mission statement is broad, and it allows for a continued place of importance, even after the St. E.’s transition.

“What’s our role going to be?,” Dellavia said. “Clearly it won’t be what it was in the past. But our charter…states this purpose: ‘That we will support the health care of the community.’”

“So that gives us a very good mandate, if you will, to [advocate for] what we think is necessary and appropriate as a board to support the health care of the community [needs],” she said.

Beyond that, the Health Center Fund will have to wait and assess what transpires with the impending new arrangement.

“We will have to…see what the board decides is the right direction to go,” she said.

The HCF board has already communicated to the board that they are continuing to function as they have in the past, until they restructure the group, which will likely happen.

A meeting of the HCF board has been scheduled for July 19, Dellavia said.

When the Health Center Fund was first established it actually guaranteed a minimum salary to doctors that came to the Town of Webb to practice medicine, according to Dellavia.

The HCF also subsidized the the housing of interns, she said.

“It has been a varied contribution that not everyone is aware of,” she said.

But the Health Center Fund does not and has never played a role in the actual running of the Health Center, which later became known as the Town of Webb Professional Offices.

“We have nothing to do with the operation,” Dellavia said. “Our goal is to support the health and well being of the community.”

Beyond that, the HCF only steps up when called upon, either by the doctors or the community.

“The Fund also does scholarships and supports people persuing careers in the medical field,” Dellavia added.

“There are a lot of other things the Fund does. But right now we are going to have to sort of redefine our mission, as it were,” she said.