More than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the U.S. since 2010 and another 430 are at risk of closing, according to a December article by Fox News.
“This poses a huge challenge — and danger — for the 20 percent of the population living in rural America,” reads the piece.
Why?
Because when it comes to medical care, especially in an emergency, response time is key to successful outcomes, and in many cases, saving lives.
We are fortunate in Freestone County (pop. 19,816) to have Freestone Medical Center with its excellent Emergency Room, Medical Clinic, and Hospital Beds housed in the county seat of Fairfield, Texas.
Located in the geographic center, and along with hospitals in adjoining counties north, east and west of us, anywhere our readers live in Freestone County is only minutes away – at most, under a twenty mile drive – to medical care.
And, that becomes even more important as the county is a major thoroughfare for Interstate 45 with first responders actively working to save lives when the unthinkable happens.
Freestone County could easily have gone the way of many rural hospitals and closed for good when East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) ended their lease agreement in 2016.
In fact, of the seven hospital facilities released by ETMC during that time, Freestone Medical Center is the only one that has remained open continuously.
How did they accomplish that?
Through hard work by a dedicated group of individuals: the board members of Fairfield Hospital District (FHD).
At first, the group sought to find another hospital to align themselves with.
FHD quickly realized that keeping their county hospital open was going to require more than simply finding a new facility lease. They were going to have to create their own hospital – from scratch!
It was a complicated, expensive venture, but ultimately a successful one as Freestone Medical Center was officially born on January 1, 2017.
Since then, Freestone Medical Center has continued to improve the hospital campus by adding services and physicians. And, more importantly, the hospital facility – clinic, emergency room, and beds – is debt-free.
Thanks to careful foresight, this has been accomplished with an austere budget.
In fact, it wasn’t until just last year that Fairfield’s hospital district asked for additional taxpayer monies. And when they did, voters overwhelmingly approve raising the tax cap to 25 cents – the first such increase since the hospital district was first formed in 1987.
With a “thumbs up” from 86% of voters, and after crunching their budget numbers as tight as possible, FHD set the new tax rate at 21.5 cents.
In layman’s terms, that means a rise in taxes of approximately $98 annually for every $100,000 of taxable valued property.
Quite a bargain for health care!
My old chum, George Robinson, who serves as President for Fairfield Hospital District, has stated their ultimate goal is to be self-sufficient, to eventually operate without the assistance of taxpayers.
It will take a few years to get there, but I have confidence that getting there, they will.
Freestone Medical Center has been a model for the area in preserving care for their rural constituents.
Let’s allow them to continue, and show the rest of our country how it’s done.
Vote AGAINST the proposition “reducing the tax rate in Fairfield Hospital District for the current year from 0.215 to 0.137203.”
Special Election will be held May 2, 2020. Early voting begins April 20th.
Scott W. Marsters, Sr.
Publisher / President
