Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) used the public comment period at the Coconino County Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 21 to announce two community listening sessions about potential future plans for the Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC) campus.

Colleen Maring, chief people officer for Northern Arizona Healthcare, told supervisors the organization is pursuing a 2030 strategic plan and is considering relocating FMC to a new site to build a modern regional hospital. Maring and other NAH staff emphasized they have not selected a new site and have no timelines for relocation. Instead, she said NAH is beginning a public process to gather community input about what the community would like to see happen at the current FMC site if the hospital does relocate.

NAH scheduled two listening sessions for the Flagstaff community in McGee Auditorium at Flagstaff Medical Center: Oct. 29 at noon and Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. Maring said the sessions will present information about NAH’s planning process and solicit community ideas about future uses for the FMC campus, noting that a previous planning process in 2013 drew criticism because NAH had not engaged the public about reuse options before pursuing relocation plans.

Maring asked supervisors and the public to attend and said NAH will hold additional forums this fall as part of an outreach effort. The board thanked NAH for the announcement and said county staff will help publicize the dates to residents.