Jellico Hospital looking to reopen under new ownership after closing in March

JELLICO, Tenn. (WATE) — Jellico’s hospital may be under new ownership again. The hospital the town and a new company are in the beginning stages of possibly reopening after it closed in March.

“It’s actually a relief off of me as the mayor, and I’m sure it is from a relief of the city council to get this sort of us in to get it reopened,” said Mayor Sandy Terry.

Thursday the Board of Mayor and Alderman voted on who will operate Jellico’s hospital. In a three to two vote they chose Community Hospital Management to take the reins.

“We are very excited to have them come aboard to see about getting our hospital reopened, and hopefully, I have been in talks with Kimberly and she said that hopefully by January they should be able to reopen our emergency room,” said Terry.

Kimberly Haverly is the CEO of the company.

Over the past five months, residents were forced to drive over 30 miles if they needed emergency care, or wait just as long for an ambulance. With the closest hospitals being in Corbin, Kentucky, or Lafollette, Tennessee.

One resident, Leah Johnson, recalled when her son cut his head.

“He actually needed stitches. So we had to drive to Children’s Hospital in Knoxville rather than just being able to go down the street. So traveling with a 4-year-old who’s bleeding from the forehead is never fun, so having a hospital back here is a big advantage for all of us,” she said.

Johnson said opening the hospital would be a relief for a variety of reasons.

“The struggle of having someone having a heart attack or an emergency where they get really bad and need stitches, that distance is a long way to go for any of our communities, especially our elderly people and our nursing staff. They have to travel for jobs. You know, even our radiology techs, it’s a huge it’s a huge debt in our community not to have a hospital. So this is good news,” she said.

Terry agrees and said she has even spoken to the new company about how this could bring back jobs.

“I’ve been in talks with them, CHM, and they have said they would hire our locals back,” said Terry.

With this being the second time their hospital has closed, Terry said she hopes CHM is in it for the long run.

Although the vote was just for the proposal of a partnership, Terry said they will need to create a lease agreement, and the company will need to be credentialed by Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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