Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board Still Considering Hospital's Options

Nevada County Hospital's Board of Governors is still looking at ways to possibly get a hospital back in Prescott.

At the board's regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 26, Karen Ward, hospital administrator, said Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor has a group for the board to meet with. The group, she said, may be interested in opening a hospital.

Ward informed the panel nothing has been heard from the New Boston doctor who had said he wanted to open a hospital here, but there has been some interest in something locating in the former medical center.

In addition, Mike Durbin, who owns Split Rail Residential Care Facility, in Prescott, has shown interest in acquiring the former NCH.

Duncan Culpepper said the board needed to contact the New Boston doctor along with the other group interested and set up meetings with them. He said this is the first time the board has been able to do anything because of the situation with the General Electric Capital Corporation, which recently settled with the hospital for $300,000.

Ward said she has been in contact with the Arkansas Department of Health, and officials with the ADH have promised to look at blueprints of NCH. She said they may send a representative to view the site, but the structure will still have to meet 1995 regulations before becoming any type of medical facility again.

She said the ADH will require a different filtration system, along with new heating and air conditioning and firewalls in the corridors. Additionally, a new sprinkler system will have to be installed and the structure come up to meet fire safety codes.

There is a problem in selling the hospital building and property, as it belongs to the county. The board discussed how the facility could be sold, who would be responsible for the sale and how it would be handled. What transpired was the agreed need to meet with the Nevada County Quorum Court to try and work these issues out.

Another problem was brought up by board member Glenn Vasser, who said when GECC consolidated the hospital's finances into one loan, it consolidated a number of bond issues. The GECC, he said, does not own the bonds.

This means the owners of the bonds must be located and sign them before the hospital can be sold. Mostly, Vasser said, it's a matter of mechanics of getting the papers signed. It could take two weeks to complete, he said.

Durbin said he is licensed to have a 129 beds in Nevada County and has been since 1988. He told the board he would like to move some beds into the NCH and make it into a multi-use facility, possibly opening a minor health clinic which could stabilize patients for transportation elsewhere. "A clinic would be an asset to the community as a whole," he said. "I will proceed as you proceed."

The board agreed to try and set up a joint meeting with the quorum court for Oct. 10.

In other business Buneva Wood said there was little to report financially. She said the financial statements would be adjusted as soon as they get the paperwork on the sale of the home health agency.

The biggest problem, Wood said, is vendors are calling wanting their money. They are being told the hospital's assets are secured under revenue bonds and the hospital can give them no specific date when they will be paid. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of them filed suit," she said.

Ward said something needed to be done about the hospital's insurance, and told the board she had spoken with Prescott Insurance about the hospital's policy. Currently, the annual premium is $17,600, she said, but the facility doesn't need as much coverage as it did.

The board gave Ward the authority to get the best coverage at the lowest possible price for commercial property and health care facility property protection. The policy will be paid for from the hospital's accounts receivable.

Ward, in closing, said a pipe in the boiler room is leaking bad and needs to be fixed.

Gary Huckabee, who works on the hospital's maintenance, said the problem is a leaking pneumatic valve which controls the heat and air.