By MIKE KRAFCIK
6 News Reporter
ONEIDA (WATE) – Scott County's mayor said he was about 90 percent sure the doors of the Scott County Hospital will soon close.
Last week, Mercy Health Partners announced it was shutting down the Oneida hospital after Mayor Jeff Tibbals rejected a proposed 60-day extension that would have put taxpayers on the hook for $1.7 million.
The shutdown is expected to happen Thursday, but Tibbals said there is reason to believe the hospital may still have a future.
Tibbals said progress is being made to make it easier for the hospital to reopen, if it does indeed close. He said three local and national medical groups are showing strong interest in taking over the hospital.
"There are a number of groups that have all the sudden come out of the woodwork now, and I've talked to these groups before, they said they weren't interested, but when they heard what's happening, there all of the sudden interested," said Tibbals.
As of May 18, the hospital's emergency room is no longer excepting any new patients. The county's ambulance service said trips to other hospitals can take close to hour and even beyond that.
"There will be problems, I'm sure, when you're all of the sudden having your ambulance service having to transport 15 minutes, now you're looking at 45 minutes," said Tibbals.
On Saturday and Sunday, UT Medical Center stationed one of its Lifestar helicopters at the hospital, but an agreement between UT Medical Center and Scott County EMS expires at 10 p.m. Sunday. One person was transported from Scott County Hospital to UT Medical Center on Saturday.
"God forbid I have accident, I want to get care immediately. Hopefully we would have time to go to Oak Ridge or Knoxville, but it would be nice if we had a place here we could get care at," said Andrew Blakley, a Huntsville resident.
Some residents are confident that an agreement will be reached to keep a hospital in Scott County.
"Hopefully, we'll find someone to take over the hospital. As a county, we can find ways to take over the hospital and keep it running," said Blakley.
If nothing gets done, more than 200 hospital workers will be out of jobs in the county with the highest unemployment rate in the state.
"The times are hard and everyone has got to give, plain and simple," said Charles McCrely, who works in Scott County.
Tibbals said one of the medical groups is flying in Monday to look at the hospital. He also said there is talk of commissioners proposing a motion to have a group of local doctors take over the hospital.
The Scott County Commission meets Monday, May 21 at 6:00 p.m.
As of May 18, the hospital's emergency room is no longer excepting any new patients.
Hopefully we would have time to go to Oak Ridge or Knoxville, but it would be nice if we had a place here we could get care at," said Andrew Blakley, a Huntsville resident.
