The sole 24-hour emergency room in Sequatchie County will close at the end of August.
North Valley Medical Plaza, owned by Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn., will likely lose nearly $1 million in 2010, making the ER’s operation unsustainable, according to a statement from Bruce Baldwin, CEO at Grandview.
“We want to keep providing great health care to Dunlap and Sequatchie County residents. However, the current financial situation cannot continue. North Valley is still a business and must live within its means,” he said in the statement.
Instead the ER space will be converted into an urgent care medical clinic that will be open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Hospital officials are not commenting on how many employees might lose their jobs, said Jamie Lawson, director of marketing and public relations for Grandview, on Thursday.
“We’re still working very hard to make sure as few employees are affected” as possible, he said. “Those things are still in motion.”
After the emergency department’s closure, the nearest ERs for Sequatchie County residents will be Grandview’s in Jasper or Erlanger Bledsoe’s in Pikeville.
For complete details see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.