Pontiac, MI-based Mayor Clarence Phillips said he holds hope that state and federal officials will find a way to reopen North Oakland Medical Centers, a 336-bed hospital that has closed. North Oakland closed after a doctors' group trying to buy the hospital failed to find credit to purchase the hospital. Some 800 employees worked at the hospital. The hospital has struggled for years as Pontiac's population has shifted to a poorer, more uninsured community.