The Hope Lions Club heard from Shelby Brown, administration of Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Hope and Anna Powell of the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation on Monday (5-18). The two talked about the upcoming special election seeking a 3/4 cent sales tax to support the Hope hospital. The proposed tax will sunset after ten years. The tax, should it pass, will be used for facility maintenance including the roof, plumbing, HVAC, and infrastructure, all of which are needed now. The tax would also fund investment in updated medical equipment and technology. Regular reports will be provided to the quorum court to ensure transparency. The hospital currently provides 24/7 emergency care for life-threatening illnesses or accidents. It also offers essential services such as lab, imaging, and the rural health clinic.
The Hope hospital was sold after Steward, the parent company of Wadley, filed bankruptcy in May of 2024. Since no company was interested in buying the hospital, the facility and property was purchased by Hempstead County and the City of Hope. The hospital is operated by the Pafford family and the county is currently the sole owner. Brown noted Jamie Pafford-Gresham has literally invested millions of dollars into the facility to get it up and going under this new ownership. Both the city and county have also invested money. Initial start-up costs were over $900,000. While the Paffords took over in September 2024, no income came in until two months later when the actual sale was approved by CMS which is Medicare. Brown also noted they couldn’t negotiate with other payers such as Blue Cross, the Municipal League, and United Health Care until they had approval to accept Medicare.
The hospital is a “critical access” hospital. This means they get paid for the actual cost for services for Medicare patients. Under critical access, the hospital was licensed for 25 beds. They also have a program called “swing beds” and allow such patients to be moved to skilled nursing at the hospital. Also, under critical access, patients can only stay an average four days. This balances out as some patients stay longer but many also stay less than 4 days.
Brown says they have worked to make the hospital more efficient. It currently employs 105 employees full-time with another 20 that work on an as-needed business. Brown said such changes were necessary as the hospital had been losing money. She said they have been seeking money from the Governor and have sought grants. So far, no money has been forthcoming from the Governor’s office. Brown said they are working with 5 other hospitals in the area to share staff for positions the hospitals don’t need on a full-time basis. This coalition involves the hospitals in Camden, Nashville, Ashdown, Mena, and DeQueen. This is part of these hospitals effort to secure Rural Health Transformation funds which are coming from the federal government to the states.
In the past year, Brown said the hospital saw 9,400 patients at emergency room. At the rural health clinic which includes Dr. Garrett, Dr. Goins, and Tammy Wellman, Brown said they had about 9,200 patient visits last year. The hospital had an in-patient census of about 600 last year.
Anna Powell addressed the need for the hospital by local industry. She noted 60 to 70% of the jobs in Hope are associated with industry. This includes agribusiness and forestry. The local plants have to note on their insurance and workman’s comp the location of the nearest hospital. Powell noted if a hospital it too far away, this can result in industries leaving the community. She also noted she has applied for about 65 or 70 projects during her 3 years at the EDC. She said the first question industries ask when they send out questionnaires is “how close is the nearest emergency room?”.
Powell said if a community loses a hospital, the community sees a “drain”, a body drain, a capital drain, and an investment drain. Powell said in the last three years, Hope has seen nearly $200 million dollars in reinvestment in Hempstead County. She said that means our industries like operating here.
Health care has really changed in the last twenty years according to Powell. She said if we want health care in our community, we can no longer depend on someone else to provide it. Powell also said if we have a tax, we can attract a partner to help with health care. Powell also detailed several instances where the hospital has served her and her family. She stressed the need for the hospital, especially for the youth and the elderly. It was also noted that ambulances cannot leave a hospital where they are transferring a patient to until the other hospital accepts them. This causes delays on getting an ambulance back to its home community. This is part of the reason its important the hospital maintain a helicopter landing spot.
Brown and Powell answered questions from the Lions. They wrapped up by encouraging the club members call their friends and relatives and urging them to voted yes on the 3/4ths cent sales tax for the hospital on June 9th.
