It’s Wednesday night and I’m busy pecking away on this computer trying to get another edition of your Clarksdale Press Register off to my printer.
These computers are the best thing that ever happened to the newspaper business. They make my job so much easier - when they work.
And when they stop working I am not one to pull out the screwdriver, take off the back and look around. That’s not how you fix a computer.
I pick up the phone and call my IT person and politely say, “I’ve got a problem and I need your help.”
Our Hospital
This is the second time I have watched our Coahoma County Board of Supervisors try to fix our hospital.
The bankruptcy of Curae almost caused our hospital to close. I have been told we were within 60 days of that happening two years ago.
The decision to hand management of our hospital to Delta Health seemed like a good idea at the time. Then came COVID, inflation and doctors and nurses who can make more money somewhere other than Clarksdale. It was the perfect storm and we didn’t weather it very well.
Our Supervisors, a “Hospital Committee” and leaders in this community have once again had to step in and do something to fix our hospital.
The wiser ones have realized they don’t have the intellect or the experience to figure it out.
They hired lawyers, consultants and created a Board of Trustees who can focus intensely on this problem.
Coahoma County has a bloated payroll of about $600,000 a month. The county dipped into the Hospital Reserve Fund two years ago and were spending about $1 million a month.
Needless to say, that is above my pay grade at your little ole Clarksdale Press Register.
I urge our Supervisors to let our Trustees do their job.
Supervisors need to watch the county budget, fix potholes, make sure our trash is picked up and figure out how much they can tax us and still get elected this summer.
The Next Step
So where is our hospital headed?
I don’t think anyone in this county has the answer to that at this point.
It’s obvious we have a need for doctors and nurses. How do you recruit those people to come here?
It’s obvious our hospital has been neglected and need computers, medical machines and qualified people to run them. Where do you shop for that?
We also have a facility that was built in 1950 for a community of 50,000 people using 1950’s technology. We don’t need that physical plant today. Who can tell us how to frugally build a new one and where it needs to go to qualify for federal dollars?
Clarksdale didn’t get into this situation overnight and they are estimating it will take 18-months to implement change.
Let’s take a deep breath. Let’s think carefully about our next step. Let’s look for good advice and listen carefully to what they say.
If we make the right choices - the wise choices - we will fix our hospital.
Floyd Ingram is Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. If your newspaper breaks, call him at 627-2201 and he can probably fix it.
