At the first of three court-mandated public forums for the Hutcheson Medical Center, what started as people sharing heartfelt stories turned into accusations against the hospital board members for not having a plan to save the hospital going forward.
The hospital is in trouble, partly because of owing about $20 million to Erlanger Health System.
Farrell Hayes, Hutcheson Medical Center president and CEO, fielded questions from hospital staff and concerned citizens at the meeting at Catoosa County Civic Center last Tuesday. That meeting was followed by another in Walker County Thursday, and one in Dade County yesterday, Nov. 18.
During the Catoosa meeting, Gary Randall took the floor first, and he dove into a story about how Hutcheson saved his life when he had a heart attack.
“If I went to Erlanger or something like that,” he said, “I never would’ve made it. I just want to thank Hutcheson for doing what they did … to make sure that I made it through the night.”