Franklin
County Commissioners voted on Friday to keep a 10 million dollar USDA
loan active while deciding how or if the money is needed to improve
Weems Hospital in Apalachicola.
The
loan was approved in 2015 for Franklin County to renovate patient
rooms and build a 19 thousand square foot addition to the hospital to
provide space for additional lab and outpatient services.
Since
that time there has been a lot of debate over what the future of
Weems Memorial should be, and USDA now wants the county to either
provide a proposal to proceed with the 10 million dollar loan or to
de-obligate the funds.
The
USDA would like a decision by March the 12th.
The
commission held a well-attended special meeting last Friday and the
majority of the speakers did not support building a new hospital in
Apalachicola.
Many
of the speakers supported stand-alone Emergency Department, centrally
located in the county, and managed by Ascension Sacred Heart which
already operates the hospital in Port St. Joe.
The
county commission voted to keep the USDA loan active but did not
agree to move forward with building a new hospital.
The
Commission will decide on Tuesday whether to schedule a meeting with
Ascension Sacred Heart to discuss the issue further.
http://live.oysterradio.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment