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Henry Co. Commission Hears "State Of Healthcare" From HCMC

By Tim Alsobrooks
Paris, Tenn.- The Henry County Commission met in regular session for October Monday evening and heard updates from Lisa Casteel and other members of the Henry County Medical Center team on the state of healthcare in Henry County.
Casteel showed a video highlighting the services that HCMC provides. Some doctors were on hand with Casteel to discuss their fields and how Henry County Medical center leads and innovates with these type services.
The mission, as noted in the video is to provide, services, care, and knowledge that patients deserve on daily. Some people spoke on the video about the care they received at HCMC.
The robotic surgery was highly regarded with optimal recover times, according to some of the patients who used this type of surgery. Casteel said we want to continue to grow forward with the community.
Dr. Scott Whitby, who currently serves as Board chairman, spoke on behalf of the growth he has seen in his 25 plus years at HCMC. Years ago, we had nowhere near the number of offices and types of medical services. These are people who are certified and at their highest level in their profession. From Wound Care, to sleep lab, to general surgery, HCMC has top staff and all services pretty much covered. Dr. Whitby said, “We are not only taking care of ourselves and the now, but we are training people to take care of patients here for a long time and we are honored be part of this community.”
Dr. Joe Mobley III also talked briefly to the commission Monday, saying through the support of the county and vision of the board, he and several other doctors were able to come back home to work.
Dr. Blake Chander, orthopedics, said HCMC is now and is continuing to become a Regional Medical Center, with patients are coming from all around. He said the strides HCMC has made with equipment like the robot, with addition of more staff, is only driving us forward.
The hospital is now involved in training more and more with the help of Bethel and they currently have eight medical students in their third year as they start to get into their speciality fields.
The County Commission and HCMC will set an appropriate time to come back and look at the purchase of an ambulance to help the fleet at EMS. Mayor Greer suggested either the November or December commission meeting as a possibility.
In other business:
Discussion was also held concerning a class action lawsuit involving the Opioid crisis. County Attorney Rob Whitefield said everyone is aware of the crisis especially the rural areas of the nation. The suit says these companies failed to disclose how addictive these opioids were and nearly all 50 states are named working on suing these opioid manufacturers in their poor judgement of producing the pills.
Attorney Whitfield said right now, everyone has basically been opted into this settlement. The TN Attorney General does have a seat at the table so the county can stay in or opt out. He said if we opt out, we are not obligated to take part of the settlement. He said the county must take action to remove themselves by Nov. 22nd.
00The county commission will not meet again until the 4th Monday in November, so the Mayor and County Attorney wanted to bring this up in October to see what commissioners wanted to do which could be authorizing the Mayor and County Attorney to be allowed make the decision, should we have to before Nov. 22nd. Commissioner Don Jones made the motion to give the Mayor and Attorney the authority to do what is best for the county and either stay in, or opt out as it gets closer to that Nov. 22nd deadline.
–County Commissioners approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Paris to pay the City $10,000 impact fee per year to handle the dispatching services for emergency calls as they move to centralized dispatching. Mayor Greer said this just shows how the City and County always work together to provide the best services for our citizens.
Commissioners also approved a capital outlay note of $160K on Monday night to help pay for various projects throughout the year.
Photo: HCMC CEO Lisa Casteel speaks at the county commission, with Commissioner Dell Carter at right. (Tim Alsobrooks photo).
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