Hospital Will Remain Open For Now!

Mayor Ken Sunseri announced plans to keep the Lakeland Community Hospital open and operational past the planned December 31 closure date with a 30-day extenuation till January 31. Plans call for a Tennessee company to manage and run the hospital. The Council voted to form and appointed members to a new Health Care Authority of Haleyville which will own the hospital. Hopefully, a 30-day extension to the planned closure will be enough time to get an appraisal for the outstanding USDA loan the present company Curae had and find a way to take care of other debts which come with an exchange of owners. Time is critical to keep the hospital open because the employees had already begun looking for jobs at other hospitals. Also, if the hospital actually closed on December 31, it would have to be re-certified, which would be an almost impossible task, especially considering the age of the facility.

Bappa Mukherji, Chairman and Managing Director of Unity, the Manchester, Tennessee company which will manage the hospital spoke to a packed council room and explained his vision for the future. He said the goal was long-term modern health care but it would take a commitment from the community to work. He said bringing back services is the key to include more preventative care services. Surgery would be revived. Not heart surgery, Mukherji stated, but less specialized procedures like hernias, etc, and others. The number of beds will be downsized from the present 59 to 49 in order to lower the overhead. Plans are to open rural health facilities in other area communities. Manning the Emergency Room presents a challenge since contracts with doctors should have already been in place, but can still happen, which is critical to the plan. The new management will take over January 1.

To fund the new Health Care Authority, the Council passed an additional one-cent sales tax and a use tax. Additional funding will come from government sources and normal hospital and ER service charges.

The new Health Care Authority members are Judy Bittinger, Dr. Ready, Dr. Jerry Harrison, Drew Thrasher, Jonathan Bennett, Royce Benefield and Roger Hayes.

 

What can you do to help keep the hospital open? A website has been set up and it is hoped at least 2,000 people will sign up on the site to utilize the planned wellness program. The site is www.lakelandlives.com. It’s quick, it’s easy and will only take a moment. Please sign up, and pass along the information.