WARREN — The local organizations working to save Steward Health Care’s hospitals in Trumbull County from closure have expressed their optimism about the new interim operator’s plans for the hospitals.

Those operators — Michigan-based Insight Health System, which intends to pursue ownership of Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital as nonprofit organizations — meanwhile, continue their assessment and to meet with leaders, providers and staff after being named interim operator Wednesday.

On Friday, Western Reserve Health Education Inc., a nonprofit that provides medical residency training at the hospitals, and Warren City Hospital Inc., announced their support of the transition from Steward Health to Insight.

“The transition of operating leadership from Steward Health Care to Insight absolutely increases the likelihood that the two hospitals will survive and thrive as not-for-profit models, so we are completely in support of it,” Kimberly Howe, president of Western Reserve Health Education, said in a press release.

“We were very interested in purchasing the hospitals and hiring a management team to operate them. But our efforts to raise the required funds were not progressing quickly enough. We are pleased that a not-for-profit operator with Insight’s track record has stepped up with plans to meet the same goals we were pursuing,” she said in the release.

Warren City Hospital incorporated in March as the financial struggles of Steward Health began to escalate to work to save the two hospitals — by helping to coordinate the work of Western Reserve Health Education and local community leaders.

Steward Health, which operated more than 30 hospitals across the U.S., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection May 6 in U.S. bankruptcy court in Houston, citing billions in debt. Within days, the Dallas-based company announced plans to sell its hospitals.

The company issued closure notices for Trumbull Regional, Hillside and affiliate satellite locations Aug. 21 stating a planned closure of Sept. 20.

Afterward, Western Reserve Health Education submitted a proposal to acquire Trumbull Regional, outpatient facilities in Bazetta and Austintown, and a clinic in Hubbard. Hillside was not included in the proposal filed Aug. 29.

The court papers state funding commitments of $20.5 million have been pulled together to keep the facilities open until ownership changes hands. Among the pool of money are separate $3 million conditional commitments by Trumbull County commissioners and members of Warren City Council.

It was estimated that $20 million to $30 million was needed to operate the hospitals for at least 90 days.

The closure was put on hold with a development Aug. 30 in the case — that Steward Health and its landlord, Medical Properties Trust, based in Birmingham, Alabama, had an agreement in principle for MPT to assume operations at the local facilities and elsewhere.

That agreement was the basis of an interim global settlement approved Wednesday that assigned interim operators at 15 Steward Health facilities, keeping them open to transition to permanent operators. In the near term, meanwhile, Steward Health will continue to play a role in the daily operations of the facilities here and elsewhere.

John T. Woods, secretary for Warren City Hospital, said in the release Insight’s plan to continue operating the hospitals “envisions the same results we were working to achieve — the preservation and upgrade of Trumbull and Hillside.”

“Even though our original plan to work with WRHE (Western Reserve Health Education) to buy the hospitals did not secure the funding we needed, we believe our efforts over the past several months established momentum that kept Trumbull and Hillside open and eventually drew the commitment of a quality operator. We want to thank all who supported our efforts. We look forward to supporting Insight Health.”

Also Friday, Insight said in a release its “first and primary priority is to ensure the continued operations of all the medical services.

“We want to be clear that the hospital is continuing to run just as it did before the transition. No services have been suspended and all hospital departments are operational. Based on our assessment over the last 48 hours, we have found that all service lines are fully staffed and resourced and patient safety and quality standards are met,” the release states.

“Our team is continuing our assessments, meeting with hospital leaders, providers and staff over the coming days. We expect to have more to share on the transition plans next week,” the release states.