ONEIDA (WATE) - A Scott County doctor says some patients will die without a hospital in the county.
St. Mary's Scott County Hospital is set to close on Thursday. The county mayor says he is still optimistic he will find another company to take over running the Oneida facility when Tennova pulls out, but he estimates that won't happen for six to eight weeks.
"While he was in the emergency room his heart stopped. We did CPR and gave him a bunch of medicine and got his heart started back," Emergency Room Dr. Stanley Swindell told Scott County commissioners Monday night.
Doctors and nurses at Scott County Hospital were able to save the patient's life Monday afternoon with a blood transfusion, something that would not have been possible during an hour-and-a-half ambulance ride to Knoxville.
"We get one of those a week, sometimes two or three. Those folks are going to die if the hospital's not here," Dr. Swindell said.
He said a helicopter might also have saved the patient's life, but it wasn't flying that afternoon because of bad weather.
"I live here. I have children here. I have a wife here. If they have a car wreck...," he said, trailing off.
Dr. Swindell said he will be able to find work elsewhere, but he's worried about some of the hospital's other 200 employees, like phlebotomist Serina Shoemaker. It was her uncle who nearly died in the ER.
"We have a wonderful hospital and I don't think people understand that. I agree with Dr. Swindell. People will not make it. My uncle would not have made it today if it wasn't for our hospital," Shoemaker said.
Hospital CEO Jack Bryan said he feels for the employees and the people of Scott County, but said the decision to close the hospital now was made two years ago.
"Just the demographics, the economic situation is tougher in rural areas than it is in metropolitan areas, so you just don't have the numbers to make it work," said Bryan.
The hospital officially closes at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Employees will get two months severance pay.
"We've done everything we can to work with the county and to facilitate the finding of another operator or assigning it to the county, but our obligation and our time has come and it's ending," Bryan said.
Scott County EMS has extra ambulances on standby for when the hospital closes. UT Medical Center said they will once again station a helicopter in Scott County to transport critical care patients.
St. Mary's Scott County Hospital is set to close on Thursday. The county mayor says he is still optimistic he will find another company to take over running the Oneida facility.
"Those folks are going to die if the hospital's not here," Dr. Swindell said, referring to patients that need emergency procedures like blood transfusions.
