Kettering Health Network said Friday, Feb. 19, that it and a publicly traded partner, Health Management Associates Inc., have offered to affiliate with a county-owned hospital in Wilmington that is trying to cope with debt and years of financial losses and serve a surrounding community hit hard when the former DHL freight hub closed.

Clinton County-owned CMH Regional Health System, which includes Clinton Memorial Hospital, is soliciting proposals from other hospital systems for affiliation that could provide financial stability and keep the hospital operating in Wilmington.

The proposals are due by Wednesday, Feb. 24, with a decision to follow by July 1 on which offer CMH and Clinton County may decide to accept. Clinton County commissioners and the CMH system’s board of trustees could reject the bids, which could result in sale of the 59-year-old county hospital and related assets.

Kettering Health Network’s pairing with Health Management Associates, a Florida-based, for-profit corporation that operates 55 hospitals in 15 states, would provide the financial strength to relieve CMH’s long-term financial debt, said Frank Perez, chief executive officer of Kettering Health Network, a nonprofit organization.

“We will be able to eliminate that debt for them through the ability to have a capital partner,” Perez said in a telephone interview Friday.

His network includes Kettering, Grandview, Sycamore and Southview medical centers; Greene Memorial Hospital, Kettering Behavioral Medical Center and more than 60 outpatient centers. Fort Hamilton Hospital, in Hamilton, is preparing to join the network later this year after leaving the Cincinnati-based Health Alliance.

CMH would keep its identity and continue to operate in Wilmington if it decides to affiliate with Kettering Health Network, Perez said.

Bob Wagenseller, chairman of the CMH system’s board in Wilmington, did not respond to telephone messages Friday requesting comment.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.