Dear editor:

In response to your Sept. 22 article titled, “No date set for hospital opening,” I was wondering if there were any ways to speed up the process. With how busy the center was on a consistent basis, the delay of the re-opening could cause some serious problems. If someone was to be seriously injured, it would take some time to get to Alabaster, which could result in worsening of condition or death.

I understand that there is a lot of red tape that the leaders of our community have to go through, but I wish that there was a way to speed up the process as quickly as possible.

Not only are the people who may get injured affected by having to delay the opening, but the employees who work there are affected. They are not getting paid and have to sit at home instead of earning a paycheck for their families. And those employees are the solutions to one of the problems faced by the one who will be put in charge of the hospital. When the hospital is appointed someone to run it, the first thing they will have to do is staff the hospital so that they can provide adequate care for the patients. The staff that was employed by the former owners is very capable of providing that adequate care needed. If this solution is used, the process of re-opening the hospital would be shortened significantly.

As I know the leaders of Clanton and Chilton County are working as hard as they can to re-open the hospital, it should be the top priority of the company who formerly owned the hospital to reach an agreement and legalize the deal. That way the local leaders could hire the staff and get the hospital running for at least the trial period they have planned.

You wrote, “Officials close to the situation said the commission would not be handing over a large lump sum; instead commissioner Tim Mims would serve as a liaison between the board and the entity holding the account.” This would be the best call as the city and county could stand to lose a lot of money if the hospital proves unprofitable for the county. Bringing in a third party to analyze whether or not the hospital is sustainable is great as this is going to allow an unbiased person or persons to make the call on whether or not the hospital is sustainable for the city and county.

James Dubuisson, Clanton