Past county commission chair and current Putnam County Hospital Authority board member Tom Thompson addressed the Putnam County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 2 with an impassioned plea for more county funding for Putnam General Hospital.
With hospital CEO Alan Horton in attendance, Thompson appealed to commissioners for $310,000 in immediate assistance to the hospital. He reminded council members of the importance of PGH to the city, county, and surrounding communities since its 1968 opening.
He cited the hospital’s recent revenue loss of $1 million due to a change in toxicology work rules and suggested his request represents a small price to pay to help retain in-county hospital services.
Thompson explained that the state legislature had set up the hospital authority in the 1960s to keep it separate from the county, attempting to keep PGH beyond political control.
“Otherwise, I think it would’ve been a function, a department of the county, and as a department of the county, I don’t think there would be any question about the increased cost being covered by tax revenue,” he said.
As it stands, however, Thompson said the hospital authority has been placed in a position where “we have to come to you every year to beg and plead to help us do what we need to do, which is to keep that hospital’s doors open.”
Thompson then told the commissioners he believes they know how important PGH is to Eatonton and Putnam County; however, he’s not sure they understand the severity of the hospital’s financial situation.
“Some of you have had health issues that the hospital has helped with, maybe even saved your life, so I don’t think I have to tell you how important it is that we not let that hospital close,” Thompson said. He spoke of once serving on a state board alongside several other chairmen from other counties, including some that had already lost their rural hospitals. “And they said, in no uncertain terms, ‘Don’t let that happen to you; it’s the worst thing that ever happened to us.’”
Thompson also detailed several recent increases in county budget items in his plea. He said that the county fire department was budgeted at just over $1.75 million just four years ago but recently received more than $4.2 million after requesting more than $8.75 million.
“I’m very concerned that this is an area that has gotten out of control, and I encourage you to take another look at that,” he implored of the council. Thompson also mentioned the county’s legal services budget has more than doubled in that same timeframe and pointed out that the commission’s own budget has increased approximately 70% in just the past two years.
The commission listened but remained noncommittal. District 2 Commissioner Daniel Brown recalled a representative from U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff’s office visiting Putnam County approximately two years ago and asking what the senator could do to help the county. Brown suggested to Thompson that perhaps the hospital authority should reach out to Ossoff now with a request for assistance.
Thompson pointed out that appealing to the federal government for assistance typically involves a long, detailed process, and the hospital requires immediate help.
In a separate statement, Georgia Benjamin-Smith, another Putnam County Hospital Authority board member, said she remembers when PGH was yet to be built, and county residents had to travel “a great distance” for both emergency and routine care.
“Putnam General Hospital is an asset to this community. For a town this size, it offers services that you see in larger hospitals, the doctors and nursing services, the best physical therapy, the lab, x-rays, and the volunteers are angels,” Benjamin-Smith stated. “Everyone knows what they’re doing there. You walk in with a concern, and you walk out satisfied.”
Thompson said that under Horton’s leadership and with help from the directed-taxes Georgia HEART program, the hospital has put in a lot of work and effort to return to solvency, but that could quickly be threatened.
“We don’t want to get back to where we have to borrow more money, pay more interest, and then it just adds to the cost somebody’s got to pay, which is usually the citizens,” he said, adding that since 2013 annual county funding for PGH has been dropping instead of increasing.
“We can’t do that,” he stressed. “To get to that hospital is critical when you are injured or have a heart attack or a stroke. It has been there as a lifeline for the people in this county, and we cannot allow it to close.”