A sea of safety-orange shirts and smiling faces met employees of the newly minted Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital at an early morning “Go Live” event last week which seemed more like a first date with the new hospital owners than an orchestrated takeover.

The message from Orlando Health to the local press and dignitaries present was clear: We are here to move forward. We will not talk about Steward. We bank on the good reputation of Orlando Health to earn the community’s trust in the short term. But we do not have anything close to a detailed strategy for your hospital yet.

Now that the signage has been changed and the rebranding of the North County hospital is in progress, the “listening phase” is next, according to Orlando Health East Region Vice President Ohme Entin, who was appointed to head up the three acquisitions that they refer to collectively as Steward’s Space Coast hospitals.

Since they had only closed on the nearly half-billion-dollar purchase of Steward Sebastian River Medical Center and two Brevard hospitals hours before, the Orlando Health executives had not enjoyed unfettered access to the Sebastian hospital during the months-long sale process.

There were no speeches, no big announcements of new services or capital improvements. No timelines. Just a few dozen Orlando Health staffers in the hospital lobby introducing themselves, sharing some refreshments and getting to know their new employees plus a few people like County Administrator John Titkanich and Property Appraiser Wesley Davis who came to welcome the newcomers.

Davis has served on the Sebastian River Medical Center Advisory Board of Trustees for many years, through several ownership changes at the hospital, so he was kept informed about the sale progress by Steward’s former Sebastian CEO Ron Bierman.

Since Orlando Health is so focused on “listening” to determine what the hospital needs, Vero Beach 32963 asked how Orlando Health might utilize the existing local advisory board trustees appointed under Steward. Entin did not have a ready answer, and a follow-up question about this sent on Friday, and again on Monday, did not produce a response by press time.

Luckily Davis has always been open about his advisory board position and about hospital matters, and shared that their regular meeting set for the last Tuesday of each month was still going forward, and he hoped to find out more about Orlando Health’s plans then.

“The deferred maintenance is one of my biggest concerns, along with the continuation of quality patient care,” Davis said. “You could see they were already getting things done with the grass being cut that morning.”

Inspections over the summer had uncovered problems with the boiler system, the fire detection alarm system, air conditioners and backup generators. It’s obvious that the building exterior also is in need of a good pressure-washing once the safety and climate-control concerns are addressed.

Orlando Health purchased both the hospital operations and the underlying real estate as is, so its facilities crews will be on the job making lists and attacking any acute problems.

Entin, the immediate past CEO of the nonprofit’s largest and oldest hospital, the flagship Orlando Regional Medical Center, said her job now – after learning as much as possible – will be “to marry what we do with the needs of the community.

Entin declined to comment about the many local vendors who had performed services or delivered goods and not been paid by the now-bankrupt Steward, only saying, “Orlando Health has an excellent reputation with our vendors.”

Orlando Health in its $460 million enterprise bid package also purchased the local specialty medical practices owned by Steward, but despite repeated requests, Vero Beach 32963 has been unable to obtain a list of exactly which Sebastian specialists now work for Orlando Health.

Orlando Health did not take over the county’s Steward primary care doctors, as those were presumably auctioned off to a newly formed LLC called “Brady Health Buyer,” a subsidiary of Rural Healthcare Group. A private-equity investor in healthcare, RHG operates 13 clinics in places like Bryson City, N.C., and Hendersonville, Tenn.

Last week, Sebastian Hospital employees were switched over to the Orlando Health benefits plan and company health coverage. Human resources people were on-hand to help with paperwork last week.

For Sebastian River patients wondering if Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital or their former Steward doctors are still in-network on their health insurance, Entin said the Orlando Health provider network insurance plans had been extended to the new Sebastian hospital. So if a patient looks up ORMC or an ORMC staff physician, that’s a pretty good way to find out if the Sebastian hospital and on-staff doctors are still in-network with their health insurance.

Orlando Health’s new East Region extends from Brevard through St. Lucie County. When asked if Orlando Health has expansion plans for St. Lucie County, Entin said, “We expect that people from St. Lucie County will choose to come here for excellent care.”

Entin said the vast network of Orlando Health doctors, specialties and hospitals, she believes, will be a big draw for locals who want to connect with those healthcare resources.

Photos by Joshua Kodis