A well-attended rally was held in Ellington Friday outside of the Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County to voice frustration and fear concerning the closure of the facility set to take place March 11. Reynolds County found itself the latest flash point in the ongoing rural healthcare crisis in Missouri earlier this month when the hospital’s operator SoutheastHEALTH announced it would shut down the facility due to economic problems with the facility and a $6 million Medicaid liability it assumed from its previous owners, Advanced Healthcare Management Services LLC.
Also closing will be one Ellington and one Van Buren healthcare clinic affiliated with the Reynolds County hospital.
With the closure, the closest hospital for Reynolds County residents would be at least a 45-minute drive in any one direction. The closest emergency room would be in Poplar Bluff.
More than 100 people were on hand Friday. Within the crowd was Calvin Moss, a Reynolds County resident whose son’s life was saved at the local hospital after he sustained a severe head injury following a horse accident.
“It worked like a well-oiled machine, you couldn’t have asked for better,” Moss said of the services his family received. “There are others who don’t know it, but they are going to need this place someday. If it comes to the point this place is gone, there’s going to be a whole lot of people who are going to wish they’d done something. We need to get serious about keeping this place, because we need it.”
Also in the crowd was Laura Baker, an RN at the hospital since 1991 who will find herself unemployed in less than one month.
“I don’t have another job right now, this was my future, I’ve always depended on it,” Baker said. “My hospital family is here, I grew up with all the employees. It’s a part of the community. I never dreamed it would be closing.”
The main speakers at the rally included State Representative Paul Fitzwater and State Senator Gary Romine, whose districts include Reynolds County.
“We don’t want to leave any stone that hasn’t been unturned,” Fitzwater said to those assembled.
“We need to raise a red flag down here this hospital is so vital to the businesses and the logging industry down here. We have a nursing home up on the hill, can you imagine if it’s not here. They are going to be very vulnerable. We need this hospital here.”
Romine outlined three options to save the hospital; for the Medicaid debt to be waived, to find a new provider or build a new facility. Romine also said he is an advocate for a Telehealth bill under consideration at the state legislature.
“We need to make sure this hospital stays available for the new technology and the new opportunities to bring even better service to this community,” Romine said.
The politicians did not publically endorse a specific plan to keep the hospital open, but did say they would be immediately pursuing a 90-day extension to keep the facility open while efforts are underway.
Eric Mansfield of the Ozark Heritage Project helped publicize the rally and spoke passionately on the issue to The Salem News.
“This facility has prevented numerous deaths including my own,” Mansfield said. “So I can state equivalently that sadly, yes, short of the rapture, the closure of this hospital will cost lives.”
Mansfield opened the rally by praying to God for a plan to keep the hospital from closing.
The Ellington Chamber of Commerce President Chrissy Roberts hosted a meeting after the rally with stakeholders to strategize on next steps to keep the hospital open. Organizers said no details from this meeting would be publicized.
According to the Reynolds County Courier, the Reynolds County hospital was built in 1978. In 2003, the hospital board was disbanded after the facility was purchased by Advanced Healthcare. On Jan. 1, 2013, SoutheastHEALTH became the primary provider at the facility.
