It’s a tale of two hospitals.
Although they are both in different places, both have similar fates.
“It’s just some things you take for granted…and you just think the hospital is always going to be there,” mentioned Pastor Eddie Davis, Word of Life Christian Center in Bennettsville.
“We are kind of in a bind here…you either have to be taken to Scotland or basically Hamlet or Rockingham,” added Robert Johnson, who is a Bennettsville resident.
Just 15 miles separates both Marlboro Park Hospital and Chesterfield General Hospital.
Last April, Community Health Systems announced they would not renew the lease of both hospitals, which is set to expire this April.
Medical Properties Trust currently owns both hospitals.
With months looming, jobs, industry and healthcare are all at risk.
“It’s trickle-down effect all the way,” said SC House District 54 Representative Patricia Henegan.
“You just assume that somebody’s going to buy it and step in and do what needs to be done to save it, but this is a critical hour,” stated Davis.
“I have some health issues. You always want to know that the hospital is a few moments away,” Johnson explained.
The fate of South Carolina’s rural hospitals has long hung in the balance.
SCHealthdata.org reports Marlboro Park Hospital lost nearly $11 million in 2013 and Chesterfield General raked in a little over $182,000 the same year.
“You’re looking at about 16 rural hospitals in South Carolina with the possibility of closing,” explained Henegan.
However for most, the need for a hospital far outweighs its pockets.
“We are still here, still surviving. I just have the utmost confidence that we are going to make it,” Davis said.
Hospital officials say the group will try to find a new operator before the lease ends April 30th.
We tried to contact medical properties trust for comment, but they were closed Monday.
