(PMHD Officials report to City Council)....Brawley City Council met Tuesday evening.

During the meeting, the council received a report on the controversial hospital situation in Imperial County. Attending the meeting was Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District Board President Katie Alcantra Santillan and Interim PMHD Executive Officer Damon Sorenson. The Interim CEO said he could only comment on what pertained to the Brawley facility. Sorenson said he was not privy to what El Centro Regional Medical Center was going through. He said in Early January he was informed by El Centro Regional that they would be closing their Obstetrics and Pediatric Departments. He said the following day, the departments were closed in El Centro. Sorenson said Brawley was able to take over the services, by rearranging their operations and by being able to hire 25 staff members that had been let go by ECRMC. He said El Centro Officials also spoke with him about a plan to merge the two hospitals into one large Health district, and then sell the new District to an outside entity. Sorenson said PMHD would be interested in a merger, but not in the selling of the District. Any other information, he said, would have to come from El Centro. He did tell the Brawley City Council he would keep them up to date on any future discussion he had with Ecrmc officials. A video of the presentation is available on the City of Brawley Facebook page.