Peachtree – Mark Kimball wants the community to “stay tuned.”
Although Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital is ending its labor and delivery services this week and closing its OB/GYN office at the end of the month, the chief executive officer said they are actively recruiting physicians that will keep more health-care needs local.
“Erlanger came here for a number of reasons,” Kimball said. “There is a community need. We want to meet that community need.”
Already, Dr. Dena Snead and Dr. Matthew Snead have joined Erlanger’s primary care practice in Andrews, while Dr. Karen Davis is new to its primary care office in Hayesville. He said another family practice will be coming to the hospital’s campus on U.S. 64 East Alternate in April, and three more physicians – two family practice, one internal medicine – will have offices in the Urgent Care Center in Murphy.
The hospital also plans to add more specialists to the area, plus recently brought on a second orthopedic surgeon.
“Our goal is to keep health care local,” Kimball said.
He said the Hayesville clinic, which opened earlier this year, has already increased local care by 82 percent. Kimball expects the addition of the Sneads will have a similar effect in Andrews.
He added that Erlanger has no plans to close the local hospital. Erlanger has invested $5.5 million into the area since purchasing the former Murphy Medical Center in April 2018, and the hospital remains one of the area’s largest employers with a staff of about 365.
Kimball said they did not make the decision to close labor and delivery lightly.
“We have looked at all service lines,” he said. “Unfortunately, (with this service line) the market and volume was not there.”
In 2018, there were 309 births in Cherokee County, Kimball said. Out of those births, only 120 were born at Erlanger Western Carolina, with the remainder being born at either Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva or Union General Hospital in Blairsville, Ga.
He said rural hospitals average 300-500 births, and even if they captured all the births in the county, the hospital would be at the bottom of the average. Kimball does not think the decision to end obstetric services in the county will further skew the demographics and young families will be willing to drive for that care, as about two-thirds have been doing.
Other regional hospitals have made make similar decisions. Fannin Regional Hospital closed its labor and delivery services in 2018, Gilmer Medical Center closed altogether that same year and Angel Medical Center in Franklin closed labor and delivery in 2017.
“The last thing I wanted to do was make this announcement,” Kimball said.
The decision affects 10 full- and part-time employees in both the labor and delivery department and OB/GYN office. Erlanger has offered those employees reassignment, and if those employees choose to accept they will not lose any compensation, Kimball said.
He did not know what the plans were for Drs. Larry Holder and Pushpa Phillips.