Progress Mexico, a group of elected officials and community leaders, have come together to form the Community Health Care Task Force.

The purpose of the task force is to work closely with SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital — Audrain as the hospital continues to seek options for its future.

St. Mary’s Hospital — Audrain is one of Mexico’s top five employers, according to the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce, with 350 employees. The task force wants to maintain this to preserve local employment rates and sustain economic growth, a news release stated.

SSM Health had planned to sell its hospitals in Audrain County and Jefferson City as package deal to University of Missouri Health Care. The letter-of-intent first issued August 2018 expired Jan. 7.

The task force was formed soon after negotiations ended, according to a news release. The group has met to discuss opportunities and challenges with the hospital, Audrain County Presiding Commissioner Steve Hobbs said.

“[We want] to ensure we have a strong hospital here in our community,” he said. “We are looking at what we as a community can do to make that happen.”

The task force has started having meetings with SSM Health, headquartered in St. Louis, about the health care system’s plans for the Audrain County Hospital. The task force wants to find a way to work with SSM, since negotiations it had with MU were private and did not have much community input, Hobbs said.

Having a hospital in Audrain County is not only important for the county, but for neighboring counties as well, he said.

“[We need to] keep critical specialists here so people can get care close to home,” Hobbs said.

The hospital was formed nearly 102 years ago and Hobbs and the task force want to make sure it is here for future needs.

SSM Health has not yet shared future plans with the task force regarding the Audrain County hospital, but the task force is pushing to be a part of any discussions, Hobbs said.

“We want to be a partner in this so we can help decide our own future,” he said. “We are trying to, for lack of a better word, have a say in what the future of health care looks like in Audrain County.”

The task force is focusing on the availability of physcians, local medical services and how the hospital can build upon those strengths to move forward, the news release stated.