Christmas Tragedy In Pickens Co. Highlights Lack Of Emergency Services

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“We made it there just in time to watch him die,” she said. “As did his young sons. We worked fervently to try and save him but we were too late. Pickens County what have we got to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again … I will never be able to forget those two boys who were devastated at losing their father on Christmas. Am I the only one feeling the way?

Indeed, this painful event is just the latest example of the impact on drastic cuts made to emergency services in Pickens County.

As Patch previously reported, Pickens County Medical Center in Carrollton — the county’s only hospital — was closed in March 2020 after the financial condition of the 56-bed hospital left it unfeasible to remain open. This resulted in subsequent cuts to PCAS as funding dried up, with the service barely able to staff one ambulance.

McCrory told Patch on Wednesday that she is tired of feeling the guilt and burden of not being able to give people decent emergency service.

“This is my home,” she said. “It’s hard not to feel responsible for people’s suffering when ultimately it’s my responsibility to provide ambulance coverage. I’m angry because it’s not my burden to share alone. It costs money to operate ambulances. It’s business just like any other. If the funds aren’t there to support it, then how will we survive? Literally and figuratively.”

While funding represents the primary short-term concern, McCrory said the county needs some sort of emergency care, whether it be a stand-alone emergency room or for Pickens County Medical Center to reopen.

“If the hospital was still in operation, we wouldn’t be in this predicament with the ambulances,” she said.

Some leaders have said that the funding cuts were also the result of consistently declining patient volumes for the hospital. However, despite lower patient numbers, problems have persisted and worsened in the years since Pickens County Medical Center was shuttered.

But not for a lack of grassroots efforts to keep it open.

As Patch reported last year, Aliceville Mayor Terrence E. Windham launched an online petition to rally community support for the reopening of the hospital, which had gathered 1,448 signatures toward its goal of 1,500 as of the publication of this story.

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“We are in a crisis. Since 2010, 14 Alabama hospitals have been forced to close their doors, and too many others have been forced to cut essential services,” Democratic Congresswoman Terri Sewell said in 2020 after the hospital was closed. “Not only are our rural hospitals critical to providing the care Alabamians need to stay well, they are also economic drivers in the communities in which they serve. The Pickens County hospital, for example, is critical to the federal prison in Aliceville, local paper mill, and thousands of small businesses and residents across the county.”

The Alabama Hospital Association has said in the past that nearly 90% of rural hospitals in Alabama are operating in the red, while more than 90% of rural hospital closures nationwide have been in states that did not expand Medicaid before closing their doors for good.

What’s more, as it relates to the community impact side, the closure of the hospital in Carrollton also resulted in the loss of 150 jobs from the local economy in a county that has struggled to see commercial growth in recent years.

Still, the residual issues relating to the availability of emergency services only appear to have gotten worse in the years following the closure of the hospital.

State Rep. Ron Bolton — a Republican from Northport and a retired police officer who represents a large part of Pickens County — told Bryan Henry of WBRC FOX 6 News in July that two people had recently died as they waited for an ambulance.

Before that, CBS 42 News reporter Tim Reid reported in May when Pickens County Ambulance Service confirmed that five patients had died in 2022 while traveling to hospitals outside of the county for emergency care.

The fight for funding has been an unsuccessful one, though, as Bolton and others have pushed to secure approximately $8 million to reopen the hospital. The most recent efforts fell short as the legislature gave most of its focus to redistricting during the last special session when the funding measure was introduced.

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In a statement to Tuscaloosa Patch, Bolton said local and district officials are actively researching potential funding sources dedicated to emergency medical response, with ambulance and transport service currently the highest priorities.

“One potential partial funding source has been researched and ruled out as not available for this purpose,” the west Alabama lawmaker explained. “Unfortunately we’ve yet to locate finances that are available for this.”

Bolton went on to say that there have been suggestions about raising additional county revenue to accomplish this goal, but it would require several approvals and a willingness on the part of everyone to agree to provide the funding to cover these costs.

“I am very reluctant and cautious about asking residents for additional resources,” he said, “and if those were found to be available there are still quite a few legal matters that will have to be worked out.”

Despite the pressing need to address such a shortfall in services, McCrory said there’s no blame to be placed on anyone for the situation. Instead, she offered perspective and potential solutions.

“The government stopped funding the hospital so it closed,” she told Patch. “The rest is fallout as a result that, honestly, we couldn’t see coming. [The COVID-19 pandemic] masked a huge part of it because PCMC closed literally weeks before the pandemic hit. Pickens isn’t any different from most rural areas. There’s limited resources for all entities.”

She then said Pickens County Ambulance Service and other emergency responders want to work with the Pickens County Commission to pass a public service bill to help fund fire, police and EMS services for the county.

“This would help volunteers fire debts, and potentially hire paid EMTs to run as first responders to help fill the gap between calls,” McCrory said. “Police could be trained as first responders as well. The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has an outstanding tactical medic program. Pickens County could have something similar with funding. It would supplement EMS by adding dollars to payroll to be able to offer competitive wages and hopefully build staffing back up.”

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