The news this week has been about changes at Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and how they will affect Clarksdale, Coahoma County and this region of the state.
Change is always news and change is not always easy. About five news announcements ranging from collaborations, new services and new people leading our hospital were announced Monday.
Your Clarksdale Press Register was there and a story about that event can be found on Page One of today’s newspaper.
The bankruptcy of Curae in 2018 sent a shiver down the back of this community. Doctors, nurses, medical technicians and staff were even led to believe they might not get paid at one point.
Healthcare provided 1,478 jobs in Coahoma County in 2020 according to data from the Mississippi Department of Revenue. In December of that year our Chamber of Commerce said the hospital employed 450 people. And while that number is certainly down three years later, healthcare is still a major industry in Coahoma County.
More than that, healthcare is a quality of life issue for Clarksdale. Hospitals are bought and sold every day. Sadly some hospitals can’t find a buyer and do close. It has been estimated that almost half of the state’s 64 rural hospitals are at risk of closing or at least not profitable.
It would be easy to talk federal healthcare programs and the state turning down Medicaid expansion. We will just say rural healthcare in this country is changing and our leaders need to be vigilant and our community needs to support our hospital.
Your Clarksdale Press Register believes we have leaders who are watching and working to keep our hospital viable.
Coahoma County Supervisors have stepped in and with a Hospital Reserve Fund of more than $30 million earmarked for healthcare in this community, have given Northwest Mississippi Medical Center a $15 million line of credit that has kept our hospital open.
County leadership has done their part.
Now it is up to the community to do their part.
We urge those in need of healthcare to shop Clarksdale first. Sure, if you need a specialist in Memphis or Oxford, go and get well. But please consider local doctors and our local hospital first.
COVID put our hospital – and every hospital in the country – through the wringer. Yes, many things have changed and this newspaper will focus on a future that looks so much better.
Change will continue to come to Clarksdale’s hospital and we need to make sure those changes make Clarksdale a better place to live and work.
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