While people voice concerns about the impending closure of Callaway County's only hospital, its owners remain mum on the subject.
About 60 people gathered Thursday night in the sanctuary of Court Street United Methodist Church in a meeting facilitated by local clergy and Missouri Faith Voices. About 20 churches were represented along with city and county officials.
Those who couldn't attend were urged to comment at goo.gl/forms/IO2YAXlG8fhuv59n1.
First to comment was resident Larry Jones, who said he was treated for a stroke at a Columbia hospital. He said he thinks the Fulton hospital would have been just as effective.
"This hospital is fully capable of doing many of the things those (regional) hospitals can do," he said.
Others spoke about quick, local access to emergency services for students at Missouri Girls Town and the Missouri School for the Deaf, as well as businesses and other organizations.
"How are we going to provide for all the people in the community?" asked Mary Jane O'Donnell, a nurse at Missouri Girls Town.
Aaron White, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Fulton, asked meeting attendees to continue the hospital conversation among their circle of friends and acquaintances.
"Carry this conversation to all corners of our community," he said. "If I've heard anything tonight, it's that officials here want us to have these kinds of conversations."
"I think we have a real opportunity here as a community to come together to talk about what our needs are," Fulton Mayor LeRoy Benton told the group.
Benton said elected officials were approached about six months ago by hospital officials who said they were in financial straits with Fulton Medical Center. Hospital officials said they were losing approximately $200,000 a month.
After community leaders offered some suggestions, FMC officials and their owners, NueHealth, an investment company from the Kansas City area, pressed harder. "They informed us their board of directors decided enough was enough," Benton said. "Unless we, as a community, could cover $200,000 a month, they would close the hospital."
In July, MU Health Care announced intent to sell its 35 percent ownership shares back to FMC, leaving NueHealth standing alone. On July 24, NueHealth officials announced intentions to close the hospital by Sept. 22 - a date set to comply with a law requiring proper notice of layoffs to employees of companies of a certain size. The hospital had about 150 employees.
With two weeks until the deadline, NueHealth officials have not announced the sale of the facility, although that company is rumored to be in negotiations.
"They asked for non-binding letters of intent (from potential buyers) and then they would decide who they would negotiate with," Benton said, adding the deadline for submitting those letters has come and gone without word from NueHealth.
One of those letters of intent was sent by Fulton and Callaway County officials, who said they never got a response. City and county officials, who formed a task force several months ago, have hired a consultant to negotiate for them if need be.
"That's pretty much where we are today," Benton said. "There's not a whole lot more we can do until we hear from them (NueHealth)."
Gary Jungermann, the county's presiding commissioner, said the process has been less than easy.
"We have worked diligently on this - it's been a little frustrating," he said. "We got a lot of bombs dropped on us."
In response to the possible loss of the hospital's emergency room, Callaway County Ambulance District officials announced intentions to increase to a 24/7 service, with four ambulances stationed throughout the county. According to Jeff Stone, who is a ambulance district board member and a Fulton City Council member, ambulances are available for emergencies, but they are not available for transportation to regular doctors' offices.
"They're there for this community, but they're there for emergencies," he said. "We're going to have to be the community that drives their neighbors to the doctor."