Hutcheson Medical Center employees Angie Hullander, left, and Holly Trotter question Walker County Attorney Don Oliver, lower right, about the deal struck Tuesday with all board members resigning. “Are there going to be anymore cogs in the wheel?” the health care professionals asked.The deal is on.
Trustees on two boards in charge of Hutcheson Medical Center, the Fort Oglethorpe hospital losing $1 million a month, agreed Tuesday to vacate their positions and relinquish considerable power, paving the way for a partnership with Chattanooga’s largest hospital.
Tonight, Erlanger Health System’s board is expected to finalize a management agreement that will pump a $20 million line of credit into the ailing North Georgia hospital.
Hutcheson Medical Center Inc. and Hutcheson Health Enterprises Inc. decided to cede operating power to the Hospital Authority of Walker, Dade and Catoosa Counties – a nine-member group of political appointees that owns the hospital building and oversees the lease – sending a wave of relief over those who survived the North Georgia hospital’s recent round of 75 layoffs.
“I feel like we’re in the clear now,” said Gina Derryberry, a labor and delivery nurse at Hutcheson.