The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to support an effort by some Belhaven residents to invited Vidant Health officials to appear at public meetings to explain their decision to close Vidant Pungo Hospital and replace it with an around-the-clock multi-specialty outpatient clinic.

The vote came during the board’s meeting Monday night.

County Manager Randell Woodruff told the board he had received a request earlier Monday from Belhaven resident Julian Goff that the board support the effort to have Vidant Health officials explain the decision to close the Belhaven hospital and discuss the future of health-care services in eastern Beaufort County and Hyde County. Organizers of the effort want Vidant Health officials to provide their explanations at meetings in Beaufort and Hyde counties, one in Belhaven and one in Swan Quarter.

“They would like the county’s support to encourage Vidant officials to come here and hold a public hearing and explain to the public the process and how they’re going to address the whole issue of health care for the rural areas of Hyde and Beaufort counties,” Woodruff said.

Board Chairman Jerry Langley said he doubts if Vidant Health officials would participate in two public meetings.

“We’ll be lucky if we can get them here once to have one good public hearing,” Woodruff said.

“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Commissioner Hood Richardson said.

“They just need to air it out,” Commissioner Stan Deatherage said.

“It (the hospital’s closing) has a potential cost impact on the county with our EMS program that serves that end of the county. There are a lot of things that we haven’t even had the chance to talk about yet,” Woodruff said.

Last week, Vidant Health announced plans to close the Belhaven hospital in phases during the next five to six months. As services at the hospital are shut down, they will be offered at area Vidant Medical Group physician’s offices. Those services include specialty clinics, 24-hour-a-day care, laboratories, radiology and physical therapy.

Vidant Health expects to break ground on the new multispecialty clinic later this year. The new facility is expected to take about 18 months to complete.

For additional coverage of the board’s meeting, see future editions of the Washington Daily News.