New healthcare facilities are emerging in a Mississippi Delta community that has remained at the forefront of the state’s ongoing hospital crisis.
North Sunflower Medical Center, based out of Ruleville, is set to open a new location in Greenwood, home to the often-publicized Greenwood Leflore Hospital (GLH). The new location for North Sunflower will be opened right across the street from GLH where Mississippi Delta Community College currently has a satellite campus.
“The North Sunflower hospital is coming here and putting in a clinic and pharmacy,” Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams said on The Gallo Show. “Now when, I’m not sure, but they’ve already purchased the property. I think Mississippi Delta Community College is still there, so that will not be happening until that contract ends.”
In addition to the future arrival of North Sunflower, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has opened Greenwood Women’s Clinic where GLH’s OB-GYN clinic used to be located. Greenwood Women’s Clinic was opened two weeks before discussions about UMMC taking over GLH came to an end without a deal in place.
As for the future of GLH, CEO Gary Marchand recently announced that the hospital has the means to stay open until January 2024, in large part due to an influx of $3.74 million in government money as well as an extended line of credit.
While Marchand is pleased with GLH tacking on another six months of operations – after it was previously believed the hospital would have to close its doors last calendar year – he explained that there’s no guarantee GLH will stay open past the current timeline.
“While the Medicaid supplemental payments and emergency relief funds help in the near term, it is the line of credit that will assure service availability into 2024,” Marchand said.
As GLH looks past January 2024, Marchand says the next step is receiving critical access hospital status, something McAdams confirmed could happen as soon as August of this year.
North Sunflower Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment from SuperTalk Mississippi News for this story.
