Meetings Ongoing About Hospital Reopening
Judge: ‘We are Going to Make This Work’
Momentum continues to grow for a potential hospital reopening in La Grange.
Fayette County Judge Dan Mueller and La Grange Mayor Jan Dockery held a meeting with the Board of Directors of St. Mark’s Medical Center Thursday.
That board is still responsible for the 18-year-old hospital in La Grange which closed its doors Oct. 12 because of financial struggles.
Judge Mueller characterized the meeting like this: “Mayor Dockery and I conveyed to the board our belief that the longer the hospital is closed, the more likely that it may never reopen. That is a scenario no one wants. The Mayor and I spoke about Progressive Health Group. This group wants to reopen this facility. Progressive Health Group is not asking for any money. They are not asking for any money from the city and they are not asking for any money from the county. Mayor Dockery and I encouraged the SMMC Board to give this group a try.”
The following morning, Friday, St. Mark’s Board Chair Dudley Piland, Judge Mueller and Mayor Dockery all joined in on a conference call with Quentin Whitwell, the CEO of Progressive Health Group.
Progressive Health Group is the Mississippi-based organization that tried to orchestrate a late bid to keep the hospital open the day before the doors were closed Oct. 12. They were unsuccessful then but they have remained interested in trying to reopen the facility.
Progressive is a for-proft group that started in 2019 that focuses on turning around struggling rural health care facilities. They own/operate a number of facilities in Mississippi and Alabama.
One big sticking point remains the $13 million still owed on the mortgage of St. Mark’s. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development remains the guarantor of that loan.
“We had a very good conversation,” Mueller said of Friday’s meeting. “Mr. Whitwell, Mr. Piland, the Mayor and I all agreed that between SMMC Board, CHC (Community Health Corporation of Plano, which since 2010 was contracted to manage the hospital), and Progressive Health Group we are going to make this work.”