Pickens County Hospital Closes Its Doors For The Final Time

PICKENS COUNTY, Al. (WCBI)- Friday was a day many in Pickens County have dreaded.

The doors at the Pickens County Medical Center are now closed for good.

In a release, the medical center said it’s forced to shut down due to financial struggles.

It was a sad an emotional morning at the facility as employees spent the morning packing up their belongings and cleaning out their work spaces.

“Disbelief, complete disbelief,” said Wayne McDavid, who worked at the hospital for 16 years. “This area needs a hospital out here.”

“I’m heartbroken and mad at the same time,” said Teresa Jones, who worked at Pickens County Medical Center for three years.

The hospital has been a vital health resource for the community for more than four decades.

The closing means more than one hundred people are now looking for jobs, including Tonya Bryant who worked as a registered nurse at the facility.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Bryant. “I usually do seven on and seven off, so right now I’m thinking I’m going on my seven off, but then when it’s time to come back, that’s when it’s going to hit me that you don’t have anywhere to go.”

Bryant is already filling out applications at other medical facilities nearby.

“I have applied, but it’s still a process because just because I have applied doesn’t mean that I’m going to get hired,” said Bryant.

On Friday, hospital administrators met with workers to help them sign up for unemployment and figure out what’s next.

But for Jones, she’s not waiting on the medical center to help figure out her next move.

“I’m going job hunting, I’m going job hunting I can’t wait on no unemployment,” Jones expressed. “I’m going out looking for a job, matter of fact, I have an interview today.”

Packing and unloading boxes were common sights all around the hospital.

McDavid stopped by the medical center on Friday to say one last goodbye to his former colleagues.

“It’s hard to see after working here for that long, to come back and see the halls practically empty, it’s rough,” said McDavid

He calls it an emotional and tear-jerking farewell.

As employees embraced one another for the final time, they said moving on will be tough because this medical center meant a lot to so many people.

“If something bad happens to somebody, there’s an additional 35 or 40 miles or more to get to a hospital where they can be taken care of, a lot of people are going to die before they get to a hospital now because they are closing this little hospital here,” said McDavid.

“This is life to a lot of people,” said Bryant. “They just come up to the gift shop or come up to workout so it’s life for a lot of people, especially the elderly people in the community.”

Hospital workers tell WCBI all of the patients have been transferred to other facilities for treatment.

We reached out to administrators, they declined to give a comment.