Cape Girardeau County Commissioners unanimously endorsed the merger of St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital on Thursday.

The commissioners agreed to work with hospital antitrust lawyers to draft a letter of support for the merger plan.

Associated Commissioner Max Stovall gave his "wholehearted endorsement," and Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones praised the hospitals' efforts to work together.

"The spirit of cooperation is just wonderful," Jones said. "We are seeing cooperation all throughout the community, in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. This is another example of people working together."

Hospital representatives had asked for the commission's endorsement Thursday.

Specifically, the hospital officials wanted letters of support to written to the Department of Justice and the Missouri attorney general.

"We are knocking on businesses' doors," said Harry Rediger, chairman of the board at St. Francis. About 15 businesses are targeted for presentations on the merger plan.

In addition, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce has planned a forum for chamber members to ask questions, and a town hall meeting is planned for Sept. 22 at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau.

Rediger, with Rob Erlbacher from Southeast's board, and chief executive officers of the two hospitals, Jim Wente and Jim Sexton, outlined the merger plan, how it was developed and why it was being pursued.

Armed with handouts and a slide show, hospital officials talked about how they expect the merger to save $44 million through lower costs and elimination of duplicated services.

The two hospitals want a consent decree with the Missouri attorney general to set up penalties if the hospitals' merger results in less than a projected $44 million in savings over five years.

If the merger didn't produce the projected $44 million in savings, a foundation would be established to provide community health-care services, hospital officials said. The foundation would be funded with some portion of the shortfall in projected savings.

Sexton said the foundation would be set up and given seed money. If the merger didn't produce the expected savings, additional money would be pumped into the foundation.

Hospital officials also said the rejection of a plan to merger hospitals at Poplar Bluff was because those hospitals were for-profit hospitals. The Cape Girardeau hospitals are not-for-profit hospitals.

Some $17 million in staff costs could be saved by eliminating 100 jobs, mostly mid-management jobs, officials told commissioners.