All right, good morning.

I'm calling this uh public oversight round table to order.

Today is Monday, April 6th, 2026.

We're in room 123 of the Johnny Wilson building.

The time is 9 02 AM.

I'm at large council member Christina Henderson, Chair of the Committee on Health, and I'm convening this round table on Cedar Hill Regional Medical Centers operations, contractual and regulatory compliance, and community impact.

For far too long, residents east of the river, particularly in Ward 7 and 8, have faced persistent barriers to accessing high quality, timely comprehensive health care.

Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center represents one of the most significant public investments in health care in the district in decades.

The district invested over 400 million in public dollars to construct the hospital and has committed another 25 million over the next 10 years to hospital operations to cover any financial deficits.

This hospital was envisioned as more than just a replacement facility for United Medical Center.

It was designed to be part of a fully integrated equitable health system that includes robust inpatient and outpatient services, strong community partnerships, a meaningful academic and training presence, and a workforce that reflects and serves the community with the expectation that Cedar Hill would improve health outcomes, expand access, and rebuild trust.

At the same time, we're here today because there have been some consistent reports and concerns that go beyond the knowing the normal growing pains of a new facility and have very serious questions about whether the hospital was indeed ready to open when it did.

Shows that Cedar Hill um was having the longest ambulance drop-off wait times of any district hospital with ambulance ways ambulances waiting, uh an average of one hour and sixteen minutes.

Taken together, the challenges have led to a financial strain, unmet healthcare needs, and a hard to repair distrust in the hospital among ward seven and eight residents.

To support this oversight, we sent some prehearing questions to George Washington University, University Health Services, and GW Medical Faculty Associates.

These questions were largely focused on the compliance with Cedar Hill Hospitals Operations Agreement, which was entered into by the district government and UHS.

The hospital operations agreement is available on the hearing management system website, which is on DC council's webpage for anyone who is interested.

Most importantly, this conversation is about the residents of Ward 7 and 8.

It is also about whether they can access high quality care when they need it, receive care from the providers that they trust in whether the hospital is meeting the needs of the community it was built to serve.

We're gonna begin today with a panel that includes a member of Cedar Hill's board and a community physician who has long served residence in Ward 7 and 8.

Their perspectives will help ground the discussion and a community experience provider realities.

We'll then hear from representatives of Universal Health Services, GW Medical Faculty Associates, and the George Washington University to better understand hospital operations partnerships and the status of contractual key contractual commitments.

Finally, we will close with the government witnesses, including Dr.

Ayana Bennett, who is the director of DC Department of Health and Wayne Turnage, who is the deputy mayor for health and human services to discuss the district's role and oversight accountability and a path forward.

Appreciate the participation of all the witnesses today, and we look forward to a candid and constructive conversation.

I will also just say for the record, um, this hearing was originally scheduled when we were supposed to have the budget.

Um and so we had to make some scheduling.

Uh we had to beg for a room, to be very honest.

Um I had to make some changes on that.

So for the public who may be watching, it wasn't our intention to quote unquote block anybody out, but we did have to make some strategic decisions in terms of us having a conversation today.

All right.

With that, we'll move to our first panel.

Uh I don't see our first witness here, Jaron Hill Lockridge, um, who is from the um advisory board and the chair of the Ward Health Ward 8 Health Council.

But we do have Dr.

Marilyn McPherson Corter, who is um former chief of staff at UMC who is on Zoom.

So we'll start with Dr.

Uh.

Dr.

Porter.

Hello, good morning.

I'm here.

Morning.

Can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

Um, when you're ready.

Okay.

So yes, I'm I am a ward seven.

Um I grew up in Ward 7 and 8 at well, ward 7, went to school in Ward 8 for all of 12 years.

So I'm a Washtonian three generations.

Um I became a pediatrician right here in DC Howard University, did my residency in pediatrics, and then did two fellowships, one in genetics and one was in adolescent medicine.

Uh been in private practice for all of 40 years.

And I was had the honor of being the chair of the nursery at what was called at that time Greater Southeast since night since 2000, and then became chief of service for four years, and that was in 2015 through 2018.

I am a community doctor.

I know many of the community doctors who are still in private practice, who were in private practice adjacent to the hospital, the medical uh professional office building for the physicians for 30, 40 years and practices in the area, and they practice medicine in area generations.

So when we heard of the new hospital, we were we were excited.

I mean, I was in board meetings with leaders in the district, and you know, we know our hospital was old, and I would have I wish that it had stayed open.

I said, you know, it's enough.

We have enough need that we could have two hospitals in Southeast.

But of course, that wasn't my decision to be made.

So as we continue to hear of the hospital opening, we unfortunately were beginning to see less and less funding for our hospital.