More than a month after Newton’s only hospital shuttered its doors, city officials remain worried about the lack of a local emergency medical facility.

    Pioneer Community Hospital of Newton closed Dec. 1 due to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ re-interpretation of their Critical Access Hospital distance requirement regulation.

    In September of 2010, USDA allowed Pioneer to purchase the hospital from the previous owner, with the CAH designation being an essential requirement for the transfer to occur, according to a press release. The loss of the designation made operating the hospital no longer financially feasible, forcing the facility to close, the press release stated. The hospital’s clinics were not closed, however.

    Since the hospital closed, city officials have been trying to come up with a plan to bring a full-service medical facility back to Newton.

    Ward 5 Alderman Don Vares wants to form a committee to develop a strategy.

    “I think we are in dire straits,” Vares said in December. “There are other things in the medical field going on around us. I think with Biewer coming, La-Z-Boy and ESCO already out there, and other companies around us, I think it would be a benefit to our citizens and our businesses to have a hospital around here.”

    La-Z-Boy and ESCO are two of the area’s largest employers, while Biewer Lumber plans to build a state-of-the-art sawmill in the city’s industrial park. The sawmill will employ about 125 people, according to company officials.

    Fire Chief Steven Kelly agreed with Vares about the need for a local hospital.

    “We have three ambulances and they are having to transport to Meridian, Forest, or Union, and most folks in the area are choosing to go to Meridian,”  he said. “That can put an ambulance out of service for up to two hours.”

    “A police officer or firefighter could go down, and it would be a 30 minute transport to get some definitive care versus having a hospital right here in Newton,” Kelly added. “A lot of people considered our hospital in Newton a band-aid station, but I’ve seem them save a lot of lives there.”

    Since the hospital closed, 911 calls have increased, Kelly said. Those calls are keeping ambulances busy around the clock.

    “The ambulances are staying gone more, and for some reason things just don’t happen throughout the day, they all happen at one time,” Kelly said.

    The closest full-service hospitals are in Union, Meridian and Forest.

    Mayor David Carr said he had spoken with Pioneer officials, and was told there have been no serious inquiries to buy the hospital.

       “I have also spoken to several other hospitals about this situation, and the only thing that can stop it is federal legislation,” Carr said. “That’s not going to happen today, tomorrow, very quickly, if at all. It is how they are reimbursed for their cost.”    

    But Vares said it is critical that Newton have a hospital.

    “Our hands are apparently tied right now, but I would like to have something put in the paper to let anyone that might be interested in forming a committee to let us know,” Vares said. “It’s not just the city of Newton. You have people that have a vested interest, like the nursing program at East Central Community College. We might can get some of those people involved,” he said.

    Anyone interested in forming a committee or who might have an interest in purchasing the hospital are encouraged to attend the city’s next board meeting on Jan. 19 at 5:30.

    Pioneer, which employed 150 people, offered inpatient services such as acute care, swing bed and geriopsych services. The 30-bed hospital, located on Hwy 15. near the industrial park in Newton, opened in 2005 as Newton Regional Hospital, according to the Mississippi Business Journal.

    The $6.5-million, 50,000-square-foot facility replaced the old hospital in downtown Newton and was funded with a $403,261 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant and a $6.5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan.

    In September 2010, the hospital was purchased by Magee-based Pioneer Health Services, which also owns or manages several other hospitals in Mississippi, including Lackey Memorial Hospital in Forest.