Video: Pioneer Community Hospital Open House In Choctaw

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CHOCTAW COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) -The state shutdown of Choctaw County Medical Center almost four years ago. That left a huge void in local health care. But county leaders went right to work to remedy the problem. The result was a partnership with Pioneer Health Services.

Hundreds of people toured the Pioneer Community Hospital of Choctaw on Tuesday. They met with healthcare providers face to face.

“It’s a blessing for so many of us people that can’t afford or want to go out of town. We want to support our local hospital and our local doctors,” resident Linda Jenkins.

“It’s a great thing to have in the community. Being from a rural community myself, the local hospitals are an asset in all ways,” said resident Ladonnna Caffey.

It took a joint effort between the Choctaw County Board of Supervisors and Pioneer Health Services to get the hospital up and running. It’s been in the works since 2010.

“We had a decision to either build a new hospital or just get out of the health care business all together and the Board went through a lot of hard decisions, decided to go into the health care business, build a new hospital, and try to improve health care for people in the county,” said Chris Mcintire, President of the Board of Supervisors.

An open house was the perfect way for local folks to find out about new services available for patients.

“This is a great economic asset to our county, we have so many employees. We’re able to hire new people, we’re creating jobs and we’re also bringing very effective and every great health care to this area,” said Cecilia Derringgon, community relations for the hospital.

The new hospital is located on the corner of highway 9 and highway 12 in Ackerman.