The Territorial Hospital Board met briefly Tuesday to approve more than a dozen medical personnel for the Schneider Regional Medical Center since that district board lacked sufficient members to reach a quorum and approve the appointments.
The four current members on the governing board for Schneider Regional are Cornel Williams, Dr. Margaret Sprauve, Gretta Hart-Hyndman and Maria Tankenson-Hodge. The nine-member board has five vacancies barring the possibility of a quorum. It is up to the governor to fill vacancies on both hospital boards and the territorial board.
Territorial Board Chairman Nellon Bowry called the meeting to order and Williams, chair of the St. Thomas-St. John governing board, and Dr. Luis Amaro, chief medical officer at SRMC presented the names and recommended approval while denying two other applications.
The board voted to approve Drs. Dionne Simmonds, Eric Stelnicki, Marilyn Griffin, Mohammed Naveed Khan, John Franklin, Lawrence Goldman, Cynthia Oberfelder, Kimberly Hawn Wright, Martha Carter and Philip Neely to one- or two-year appointments. Physician assistant Jessica Jones and psychologists Sheena Walker and Nicolette Howells were also granted staff privileges at the St. Thomas hospital.
Denied an extension of surgical privileges were Drs. Edwin Williams and Alain Polynice, reportedly because they lacked the number of cases to warrant reappointment.
Present at the teleconferenced meeting were Bowry, Williams, Sprauve, Vera Falu, Aracelis B. Walcott, Philip Arcidi, Nelda Coombs-Ephraim and Dr. Olivine Anne Treasure.
There are 15 members on the territorial board with two vacant positions for St. John appointees. The full board comprises six members from each nine-member district board and three government agency representatives.
The governmental representatives are Bowry, director of the V.I. Office of Management and Budget, Valdamier Collens, commissioner of the Finance Department, and Dr. Michelle Davis, Health commissioner.
