Renaissance Hospital of Terrell, the latest incarnation of the City of Terrell’s troubled hospital (the city owns the hospital and leases the facility for $10 to a company who is responsible for operations), appears to be shutting down, yet again. According to articles published by Kaufman County Online (August 19th, August 21st) as well as the Terrell Tribune (August 12th, August 21st and August 22nd), Renaissance has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As recently as Friday, hospital officials have been quoted as saying the hospital will not necessarily close, and that a reorganization is possible.

I am skeptical to say the least about the possibility of this hospital remaining open under Renaissance; they have announced that they are laying off 75% of their staff, all operations outside of basic emergency care have been shut down and the City of Terrell has obtained a temporary restraining order, followed by an injunction, against Atlantic Healthcare, parent company of Renaissance. The injunction was filed to prevent Renaissance from removing any equipment or supplies from the property and comes after news that Renaissance owes over $330,000 in back taxes. Renaissance has shuttered whole departments in the past few weeks – most recently labor and delivery – under the excuse that too many uninsured persons were receiving services they never paid for.

It appears that the City of Terrell themselves, who have worked desperately to keep this aging facility open, haven all but given up hope of another group taking the hospital over and keeping it open (which would make the sixth such management company in five years) – a spokeswoman for the city stated on Tuesday that the city was fairly certain the hospital would stay open, and that several companies had expressed interest in taking over the hospital, as well as at least one local group of physicians. However, by Thursday, Terrell’s city manager stated that the hospital will “eventually close itself” and that no “big name” company was interested in taking over the facility. By Friday, the city admitted that they had not seen a feasible financial plan from anyone that would allow the hospital to continue to operate.

While I certainly emphatize with the countless employees who have lost their jobs and hope that something can be done to keep this hospital in operation, I see two very positive elements to this situation. First, I believe it proves the need for physician-centric initatives when building mid-sized regional hospitals, especially in areas like Forney and Terrell that are still transitioning from rural to suburban living.

City-owned, big-corporate-run hospitals just don’t work in areas like this. Both Forney Regional Medical Center and Forney Medical Plaza have been put together, from the ground-up, as physican-based initatives, with support of local doctors. Furthermore, the City of Forney is not building and will not own either facility, avoiding the problems that have developed in Terrell as the City of Terrell has had to serve as the landlord for their hospital.

Second, and most importantly, with Renaissance most likely closing (again), Forney is poised to become the regional healthcare destination for those living in Forney, Terrell and the surrounding areas. Much as the new retail centers along Highway 80 are set to become the shopping destination between Dallas and Tyler, Forney Regional Medical Center and the Forney Medical Plaza will become the primary emergency and general healthcare destinations in the region, and if Renaissance does indeed close, will no doubt attract patients from throughout east Texas along Highway 80 as well as I-20.

All of this is, of course, dependent on Forney Regional Medical Center and Forney Medical Plaza obtaining the funding they need to complete their facilities and bring urgent as well as inpatient care to Forney. Once this happens, Forney will be able to offer top-notch care to the region while creating countless jobs for nurses, doctors and other skilled workers. While everyone is understandably excited about the new retail developments recently announced in our area, I believe these two medical facilities could do as much, if not more, to bring jobs, tax revenue and a sort of ‘brand awareness’ to Forney.

One thing is for certain – now that Renaissance Hospital in Terrell is apparently closing down, our county of over 100,000 residents is left with one 91 bed hospital built nearly 30 years ago, located thirty minutes away from the fast growing portions of the county. Looks like our local urgent care clinic, Care United, can expect to remain busy for some time, as we wait for the Forney Regional Medical Center and Forney Medical Plaza to be completed.

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