Merger Signed, Mercy Health Partners Outlines Leadership Plans

Muskegon, Mich., April 2, 2008 –Mercy General Health Partners and Hackley Health announced today that their merger has been approved by the parent companies, and appropriate filings have been completed with the State of Michigan. Mike Slubowski, president of hospital and health networks for Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health, also announced that Roger Spoelman will serve as the president and CEO of the new system, which is owned by Trinity Health. The new healthcare system will be called Mercy Health Partners.

Spoelman has been president and CEO of Mercy General Health Partners since 1998. Gordon Mudler, who has been Spoelman’s counterpart at Hackley Health, will be retiring, but has agreed to stay with the organization to support the first phase of the merger transition.

“This is an important day for West Michigan as the region continues on its path to become a health care destination,” said Slubowski. “I know I speak for everyone involved in helping us achieve this moment in history when I say that Roger will provide great leadership as we build a reputation as one of the state’s most responsive health systems,” Slubowski said. “The vision Roger and Gordon have shared throughout this process, combined with their humble steward leadership has allowed us to achieve great things and set a cultural foundation for the local healthcare community’s future.”

As part of today’s announcement, Roger Spoelman outlined the new Mercy Health Partners nine person senior leadership team (see attached) and the 15 person board of trustees (see attached). “In 1903, Mercy Hospital’s first patient was a woman suffering from appendicitis. We performed surgery and 14 days later we were open with 25 beds. The vision of the Mercy sisters in coming to Muskegon was and has continued to be offering the community a focus on compassionate service and working among the poor. Not too long after Mercy’s opening in 1904, local lumber baron Charles Hackley announced his $75,000 original gift to build a hospital. Records show that tickets to the opening hospital event were grabbed up in 14 minutes. His gift went down in history as one tied to a willingness to give, a disposition to give, and the judgment to give wisely,” said Spoelman.

“Mercy Health Partners will bring together this commitment to service and working among the poor and that same willingness and disposition to give that the Mercy sisters and Charles Hackley stood for in this community,” Spoelman said. “There is no greater evidence of this than the example that we have shown through the work we have done together in these past six months. Gordon Mudler’s team combined with his selfless dedication to do what was best for this region is a remarkable example of a disposition to give. We look forward to Gordon’s support in this first phase and the long-term results we can share with the community.”

“Our new board sees today as the first step toward delivering greater access and the ability to invest in upgrading facilities, technology and to aggressively recruit physicians,” said Mark Fazakerley, newly appointed board chair, Mercy Health Partners. “When you can bring together the physicians and best practices of two of America’s Solucient Top 100 Hospitals, the opportunities for serving the region better clinically, technologically and compassionately are endless,” said Fazakerley.

“We anticipate change throughout the next 24 months,” said Spoelman. “We will all need to learn to do things differently, but that will be necessary for us to succeed as we work in responding to the needs of the region.”

About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is the fourth largest Catholic health system in the United States, with 45 hospitals, and some 45,000 associates and 7,300 physicians in Michigan. The organization leads the state in providing charity care with more than $300 million contributed in combined programs, uncompensated Medicaid care and charity support. Trinity is Michigan's leading healthcare provider and one of the state's largest employers serving 35 counties. Nationally headquartered in Novi, Trinity Health employs more than 25,500 associates in Michigan. For more information, visit www.trinity-health.org.

About Mercy Health Partners
Mercy Health Partners is the second largest health system in West Michigan with more than 4,300 associates, and some 21,000 inpatient discharges and 137,000 emergency/urgent care visits annually. The system has four hospitals and 375 physicians and offers a number of exclusive specialty physician care services for the region.