Marion County Mayor David Jackson, right, and City Attorney Billy Gouger attend a meeting in this file photo.JASPER, Tenn. — The news that Parkridge West was cutting staff and would end its inpatient services Monday hit Marion County leaders hard.
County Mayor David Jackson said last week he was going to “take the high road” and not repeat publicly some of the things he said to hospital officials.
“It’s a very negative impact on our county,” he said.
Jackson said the closing was prompted by poor communication between the hospital and the county government — he said county administrators didn’t know that Parkridge West was averaging only three inpatients per day.
“If they had told us up front, we could’ve been flying the flag for them [around the county],” he said.
There has been an inpatient hospital in Marion for more than 50 years, he said.
“It hurts us,” Jackson said of the cutback. “A hospital is very important when you’re trying to recruit industry.”
Parkridge West will continue to provide 24-hour emergency room services and outpatient care, including imaging and laboratory services.
At a special called County Commission meeting last week, commissioners were asked to consider a one-year contract for Parkridge West to provide clinical laboratory services to the Marion Sheriff’s Office.
The lab services would cover inmates at the county jail or other people in the court system on an “as needed” basis.
County Attorney Billy Gouger said costs would vary depending on the type of lab services provided and the amount needed, but the proposed contract limits the costs to Medicare rates.
He said the contract arrived at Jackson’s office before the hospital announced the closure of inpatient services.
That timing caused more than a few raised eyebrows among the board members.
“If we’re doing the blood-drawing and drug-sampling at the jail, I think it would be wise to check” with another organization to take over the service,” Commissioner Tommy Thompson said.
Gouger said delaying the approval of the contract shouldn’t cause the county any problems because it’s been using the hospital lab services for a long time.
“I candidly don’t think it’s going to affect anything, because if you look on the signature page [of the proposed contract], a representative from Parkridge actually signed this contract in October 2014,” he said.
The board voted unanimously to table the contract so officials could gather more information.
Jackson said county leaders would begin searching for “other alternatives” for an inpatient hospital “down the road”as well.
“It’s a big loss to our community,” he said.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.