Area residents and healthcare providers are raising concerns about the future of Calais Community Hospital, with nearly a dozen staff, with all but two being medical providers, leaving in about seven months. Providers who either resigned or were fired say they were being micromanaged by administrators, who were interfering with clinical decisions they made. Area residents worry about the future of healthcare services in this part of the county, with some fearing they may have to move away to receive medical care.
“There’s only one doctor left in the hospital itself,” said Dr. Wendy Crawford, an orthopedic surgeon who left the hospital on April 30. “It’s turning into like a ghost town.” With the loss of providers, she said, “There’s a big deficit in access to certain areas of care — general surgery, orthopedic surgery, family practice and podiatry.”
Of the actions by the hospital’s administration, another physician, Dr. Jacqueline Russell, who left last fall, said, “I have no idea what their plan is. It’s like they want the hospital to close. I don’t know what their purpose is. It seems dastardly.”
However, Steve Lail, CEO of the hospital, stated, “We want to reassure the community that Calais Community Hospital remains strongly committed to providing high‑quality, stable and accessible care for the people of Calais, Baileyville, Washington County and the surrounding region.”
Lail said that some of the recent provider changes were expected and part of the normal evolution of a healthcare organization. Others were part of the hospital administration’s responsibility to evaluate quality, productivity, patient experience, teamwork and alignment with the needs of the hospital and community. “While change can be difficult, especially in a small community where providers are well known, our obligation is to make decisions that strengthen patient care, improve access and position Calais Community Hospital for long‑term success,” he said. “It is also important to emphasize that these changes are not simply losses. In many cases, they are creating the opportunity to bring in new providers, expand services and strengthen the overall medical staff.”
Providers see a dramatic change
The difference in perspective between that of administrators and that of medical providers, though, is striking.
Russell, a family practice doctor who had been working at the Calais Community Provider Practices office for more than two years, said that “everything changed so dramatically” after a new person was hired on the administrative staff last year. She says administrators began interfering with clinical decisions and “wanted more patients to go through.” While Russell had been seeing 16 patients a day for 30 minutes each, she was told to see 20 a day for 20 minutes each. “That’s a huge difference,” she said. While clinics in some parts of the country may have those rates, Russell said that pace will not work in rural Maine, where there are more limited resources and older patients with more complicated medical issues.
Although she worked at the new pace for four or five months, she did not want to keep that up. Administrators, though, “would not bend,” so she gave her 90-day notice and then was fired in October.
She had been seeing about 1,000 patients, and she said that administrators told them she had left the area, leaving them in the lurch. When word got out she had actually been hired at St. Croix Regional Family Health Center in Princeton, she said about 500 patients switched over.
Of the administration, Russell said there was “micromanagement and interference with patient care. They want to get as much as they can out of you.”
“We had a really good team going and helped a lot of patients. It was really smooth, and they just disrupted that.”
For area residents, they may now have to drive to Bangor for some of their healthcare needs. “A lot of people don’t want to go to the Calais hospital,” she said. “They’ve done this to so many physicians over the years. They’ve pushed out a lot of good physicians.”
Whether some people will now leave the area because of concerns about the quality of healthcare, she said, “They won’t move. They’ll just suffer.”
“The people who are here, they don’t want to move. They’ll go farther for their healthcare, if they can,” she said. “If you’re housebound, it’s really difficult.”
“I hope it gets better,” she said. “I hope they fire a couple of people and the whole climate changes.”
Possible impact on community
Among those who have left is Dr. Thomas Crosslin, a general surgeon who had been working full time at the hospital since 2024 before leaving in January. “Dr. Crosslin was one of the most loved surgeons,” Russell said. “He is a great physician, very empathetic, and they just pushed him out.”
Crosslin said, “I was fortunate to form trusting professional relationships with my clinical colleagues in Calais.” With the loss of staff, he says is concerned about “the ongoing well-being of my patients, colleagues, neighbors, friends and those who adopted me into their families. My hometown hospital down south suffered a similar administrative situation many years ago, and the loss of critical services and trusted staff left a cratering impact on the community. I hope Calais can avoid the same fate.”
As for the quality of healthcare in the area following the loss of providers at the Calais hospital, he said, “I think the folks over at St. Croix Regional pulled off a tremendously smart move for the greater community when they recruited and hired Dr. Russell and Dr. Moghaddas, along with critical members of their clinical staff. Both of those physicians, as well as their nurses and medical assistants, are truly superb at what they do, and they are very well‑regarded by their patients. So keeping their professional talent in the area serves to fortify both primary care and podiatry services, and it strengthens an already highly rated clinical enterprise in Princeton.”
Community may lose confidence
Crawford, who has more than 18 years of experience as an orthopedic surgeon and worked at the hospital for a year and a half before resigning, said that during her first year “I was so proud of the program being grown.” The joint replacement program “was technologically the most advanced in the state of Maine.” However, late last year “there was a significant change” at the hospital. Her first assistant, who had the institutional knowledge of the operating room, retired but was never replaced. “It was a big loss,” she said. “It made it so the program turned 180 degrees from what it was.” Crosslin then left, and the operating room “team started to become significantly weaker. People have been resigning or were being fired one by one.”
The chief nursing officer, who was in charge of running the program, lost his job, and her medical assistant, “who was fantastic,” was fired, but Crawford said she was not kept in the loop about her leaving.
Concerning the operating room team, she says, “They had a great attitude, but they were put in positions that were unfair, so there was a great deal of frustration.” When she first came to the hospital, “People were super focused on providing the best quality of care to the patients. But they became frustrated by loss of access to supportive staff and ancillary services. Their frustration was because they were seeing resources disappear.”
“We were getting to the point where people were having a lot of confidence in the hospital,” she said. “It’s a great hospital. But right now, with the vast amount of turnover that has happened, the community is losing confidence in the quality of care. That’s a hard, hard thing to turn around. It can take years.”
“There are great people working there, but they need the support” from the hospital administration, she said. “I don’t know why the administration makes the decisions they do. I hope they make their decisions in the best interests of the hospital and the community,” she stated, adding that she wishes there was more transparency by the administration about their decisions.
Investments to strengthen staff and services outlined
CEO Steve Lail, though, pointed to many actions that the administration is taking to strengthen the staff. “We are very pleased that Dr. Aziz Massaad, a highly respected and very busy general surgeon who has served the region for many years at Down East Community Hospital, will be relocating his practice to Calais Community Hospital beginning in September 2026.” He said that Massaad has “an outstanding reputation for quality, experience, professionalism and service to patients across Washington County.” In addition, Dr. Rita Ten, a pain medicine specialist and anesthesiologist, will also be relocating her practice to Calais. “This will further strengthen specialty services available locally and create new opportunities for patients to receive care closer to home,” Lail said.
The hospital also has hired Dr. Vikal Singh, a surgical podiatrist, who is expected to begin this summer. “Dr. Vikal Singh will expand the hospital’s surgical services and bring capabilities that were not previously available through the former podiatry practice,” Lail stated. “This is an example of how provider transitions can allow us to enhance the level of care available to the community.”
As for primary care, Dr. Susan Luthin, a family practice physician, has joined the hospital’s new Baileyville clinic; Logan Raye, a family nurse practitioner, is serving patients in Calais; and Kayli Doten, a family nurse practitioner, is serving patients in Baileyville. Interviews are planned for this summer for family practice physicians and nurse practitioners.
“These provider recruitment efforts are part of a much larger investment strategy for Calais Community Hospital and the communities we serve,” Lail stated. Last fall, the hospital opened the new Baileyville clinic, “a major step forward in improving access to primary care and local healthcare services for the Baileyville area and surrounding communities.” In addition to the $1.35 million in federal funding for that project, the hospital was awarded $4.9 million to remodel and expand its rural health clinic on the hospital campus, which Lail said will “expand capacity, support future provider recruitment and strengthen primary care access in Calais for years to come.”
He pointed out that the Calais hospital has also made significant investments in its employees, having increased salaries for many, with some employees seeing wage increases of up to 45%. “This reflects our commitment to making Calais Community Hospital a stronger, more competitive and more supportive place to work.”
The hospital also restarted its employer contribution for its 403(b) retirement plan and in the fall provided bonuses to employees for their hard work and dedication. Staff appreciation events are held throughout the year.
“These investments matter,” the hospital’s CEO stated. “A hospital is not defined only by its buildings, equipment or providers. It is defined by the people who care for patients every day — nurses, technicians, medical assistants, therapists, registration staff, environmental services staff, dietary staff, maintenance staff, providers, managers and many others. Strengthening the hospital means investing in those people, improving the work environment and building a culture focused on accountability, teamwork, quality and patient service.”
Lail commented, “Taken together, these efforts represent a clear vote of confidence in the future of Calais Community Hospital. We are not reducing our commitment to the community — we are expanding it. We are investing in new facilities, recruiting new providers, strengthening surgical and specialty services, rebuilding primary care access and supporting the employees who serve our patients every day.”
He added, “Calais Community Hospital is not stepping backward. We are rebuilding and strengthening key areas of care. We are focused on improving quality, expanding services, increasing patient volume, investing in our workforce and creating a stronger, more sustainable hospital for the future.”