Highland Hills invited the community to come by last week and visit.
Most trips to a hospital are not a “visit.” Most are a bit traumatic and emotional. It was nice to be invited into the halls of Highland Hills and enjoy a bite to eat, good conversation with our healthcare professionals and celebrate a new CT scanner and a hospital that has apparently turned the corner.
Rural healthcare in Senatobia got a punch in the stomach several years ago. But let’s not dwell on the past.
Highland Hills is expanding its services to this community. In the past-paced world of healthcare, something changes for the better every day. New medicine, new procedures and new doctors are what this community needs for healing. We have a legitimate desire to seek out the best.
New Highland Hills Administrator Jenny Miller touched on our hospital’s vision and you can read her comments in the story on Page One of today’s Tate Record. There is a plan. Hospital trustees, doctors and staff are working the plan. We can expect more in the future.
Healthcare is a major employer in our community, with Indeed.com saying there are 3,145 healthcare-related jobs in Tate County.
At one time it was estimated that almost half of the state’s 64 rural hospitals were at risk of closing or at least not profitable. Please read the story on Page 3 of the Aug. 27 Tate Record if you think the danger has past.
It would be easy to talk federal healthcare programs and the state turning down Medicaid expansion. We will just say rural healthcare in this country is changing and our leaders – at all levels – need to be vigilant and our community needs to support our hospital.
Your Tate Record believes this community has leaders who are watching and working to keep our hospital viable.
Your newspaper also believes local leadership and Highland Hills have done their part. Now it is up to this community to do their part.
We urge those in need of healthcare to shop Senatobia first. Sure, if you need a specialist in Memphis or Oxford, go and get well. But please consider local doctors and our local hospital first.
There is a saying in healthcare, “use it or lose it.”
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