The news this month has been about changes at Delta Health System and how it might affect our hospital and Clarksdale.
Change is always news and change is not always easy. The news that Scott Christensen was stepping down as CEO of the DHS in Greenville got the rumor mill to rolling.
Your Clarksdale Press Register will add that Greenwood is also looking at major leadership changes at its hospital.
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. There was talk of the hospital closing.
Healthcare provided 1,478 jobs in Coahoma County in 2020 according to data from the Mississippi Department of Revenue. And while that number is certainly down two 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 has heard we have leaders who are watching and working to keep our hospital viable.
At this point this newspaper doesn’t feel like Clarksdale will lose its hospital. We do feel like more changes are coming and the community needs to understand healthcare is a business, it is not a right and is not free.
We also believe it is time for our clinics and community to do their part.
We urge those in need of healthcare to shop Clarksdale first. The same holds true for our clinics. Sure, if you need a specialist in Memphis or Oxford, go and get well, but please consider local doctors and our hospital first.
COVID put our hospital – and every hospital in the country – through the wringer. Yes, many things have changed and this newspaper would like to focus on a future that looks so much better. But for that to happen we must support our hometown hospital.
Change will continue to come to Clarksdale’s hospital and we need to be sure those changes make Clarksdale a better place to live and work.
