About 160 employees of mid-Missouri’s Fulton Medical Center will be out of jobs in September. Presiding Callaway County Commissioner Gary Jungermann tells Columbia radio station KSSZ there are several downsides to closing the hospital.
Mid-Missouri hospital plans to close
“There’s somewhere between 160 and 180 people out there who are employed. That’s the first thing,” says Jungermann. “Then we’ve got citizens that do use the facility. They’re just no longer going to be there to use. And I think the emergency part of it. When someone has a true emergency that they need to be stabilized or whatever, not having that is detrimental to this community.”
Jungermann says the planned closing would make it tougher to attract new businesses.
“When you look at our future with economic development, it’s going to be a blow there too, because that is one of the questions on the first page of any kind of an application. It’s going to sting,” says Jungermann. “We’re not going to give up the fight. We’re going to keep plugging along here and try to figure out how we can make something continue to happen.”
Jungermann says the county is working with a consulting firm to try to find a solution to keep the medical center open.
State Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, whose district includes Fulton, says the planned closing is terrible news.
Contributed by Hank Koebler of KSSZ
