Board Vote Nearing for Hospital Reopening

St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange has been closed for more than two weeks, but that could be changing very quickly.

Dudley Piland, chair of the St. Mark’s board of directors, said Thursday he plans to call a special meeting of the board to consider an offer by Mississippi-based Progressive Health Group to reopen the financially struggling hospital, which closed Oct. 12.

“It’s a matter of days not weeks,” Piland said about a potential vote to reopen.

Piland said that if the hospital can reopen within 30 days of closure he feels confident all the necessary licenses can be reinstated to treat patients.

If the board votes to allow Progressive to reopen and manage the hospital, the reopening would still have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Lument, the mortgage guarantor and lender, respectively.

But that is something Piland said he feels would happen.

“It’s in everybody’s best interests to get this culminated,” Piland said. –