By Jodi James
Growing up in Grove Hill, Alabama, I quickly came to understand the importance of local doctors and other health care providers and the impact they made on my life and all those who live in rural settings.
But, the health of rural hospitals is in grave danger. Communities like mine will suffer as a result.
My grandmother had breast cancer and ultimately passed away at Grove Hill Memorial hospital. Some folks believe small town hospitals don’t provide the same care you get in a larger city facility, but my grandmother received the best care I could possibly imagine. She passed easily and gracefully, surrounded by people who were taking care of her every need.
Grove Hill Memorial has struggled in recent months and no longer offers labor and maternity services. Just 18 minutes down the road in Clarke County, Thomasville Hospital recently closed its doors for all services, possibly forever. I now live in Atmore, where our local hospital recently terminated its surgery services.
These events and others like them show how Alabama’s health care system is in crisis. Rural systems are perhaps most at risk, but urban hospitals are struggling as well. Jackson Hospital in Montgomery has had well-documented financial issues and, if closed, would mean roughly half the hospital beds in our state capital would no longer be available. This means more Alabamians won’t be able to get lifesaving care when they need it most. The impacts of rural hospital closures have made this a reality for my friends and neighbors. The problems are not going to get better without someone stepping in and taking action.
Fortunately, Gov. Kay Ivey has the power to take an immediate, significant step in improving this situation. Expanding Medicaid would provide access to comprehensive health care for tens of thousands Alabamians and immediately provide relief for the burden of uncompensated care faced by all hospitals and health care facilities.
The positive ramifications of Medicaid expansion would be undeniable for numerous reasons, but none perhaps so obvious as rural care. This is an issue that is deeply personal to me, as it is to so many who enjoy small-town life in Alabama.
If I got the opportunity to meet our governor, I’d tell her about my family and how this impacts their lives:
My mother is a widow in her 60s; if something were to happen with Thomasville being closed and Grove Hill on the brink, she might need to go two hours by ambulance to get the level of care she needs in an emergency.
My sister is pregnant and, with Thomasville closed and Grove Hill no longer offering maternity services, where would she go with a complication?
My husband is a sergeant in the Atmore Police Department. When Atmore Community Hospital closed its surgery services in July, it cited lack of Medicaid expansion as one reason. God forbid, something happens to him at work and results in him needing critical care.
What about my brother-in-law, the industrial electrician in Thomasville? Or his three-year-old daughter?
These are people who need care. The places that provide those services need help and they need it now.
When you enter a role as a leader, you have to learn to compromise and do what is best for the people around you. It is OK if Gov. Ivey’s opinion is not the same as everyone else. The question she has to ask herself now is, what is better for the people of Alabama?
Jodi James advocates for those impacted by cancer through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). She lives in Atmore.