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Once on the brink of closure, new optimism at Thomasville Regional Medical Center


Once on the brink of closure, new optimism at Thomasville Regional Medical Center (WPMI)
Once on the brink of closure, new optimism at Thomasville Regional Medical Center (WPMI)
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It's often said that "timing is everything."

And that's an unfortunate reality for Thomasville Regional Medical center.

The hospital had just opened when COVID hit, putting the new and much needed facility in financial distress.

When federal funding was made available to help medical centers survive, it was based on a hospital's past performance.

Because Thomasville Regional was new, it had no past... and got no funding.

It was a predicament that had Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day and crew seeking temporary funds to keep the hospital open, while shuttling to Washington to plead their case.

And now, it looks like those efforts could be paying off.

"The funding issue, in D.C., we've gotten a lot of great support, broad based support,” Mayor Day tells NBC 15 News. “There's not one person in D.C. that is not trying to help us, both Democrat and Republican."

That, in itself, might be considered a small miracle.

Mayor Day says he got a big boost last week in a call he received from Deputy Surgeon General Denise Hinton, who works directly with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, wanting to know what they could do to help.

It was a much needed shot in the arm toward getting the COVID funding most other hospitals received.

"Number one, we're working with administration to try to get it fixed administratively,” says the mayor, “but we're also working to get it inserted into the budget, formally inserted into the budget for next year as well, to try to insure it gets fixed no later than October 1st. And so by doing that we feel comfortable and feel optimistic, very optimistic we're going to get it resolved no later than the new fiscal year but we still have a lot of work to do and we're working it every day. "

In the meantime, Medical Properties Trust in Birmingham has stepped forward with 2 million in funding and other private entities with a million more, helping them bridge the gap until the federal funding is worked out, taking Thomasville Regional out of intensive care, and into the recovery room.

Mayor Day says 7th District Congresswoman Terri Sewell is scheduled to visit the hospital next week to see what else can be done to support the medical center.



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