Williston hospital continues to push to stay open

Williston, Florida — The Regional General Hospital in Williston has taken its fight to stay open to the Levy County Commissioners. GTN was there this morning to talk with hospital staff members and commissioners.

"These smaller community hospitals they are needed regardless you see what I'm saying and I think that closing this place down would be the worst thing, not just for the community but for anybody in general that lives in this community because those lives matter, our lives matter," says Levy County resident Andrew McCloud.

The Levy County Courthouse was packed with residents worried over the thought of the Regional Hospital in Williston closing.

"We spent over three and a half million dollars the last two years for the indigent care and there is nobody to pay for it except I paid for those things, all I'm asking is that the board of commissioners help us to save the hospital and save the jobs," says Dr. Devaiah Pagidipati, the CEO of the hospital.

Members of the Regional General Hospital in Williston met with the Levy County Commissioners today to ask the County for help in keeping their hospital open as the hospital continues to struggle to get more patients.

Destiny Edwards has been with the hospital for a long time and she says if it closes, it will hurt the community.

"I wanted to show support for my hospital and not only the health care workers, but our community as well, we wanted the commissioners to realize how important this place is to us. That means that people are going to have to travel outside of Levy County to get the healthcare they need and for that x-ray they may need to get on their lunch break that they can get now and be done with in an hour, they're going to have to take a whole day off work to go get that x-ray so its going to be a huge impact than more ways than they realize," says Edwards.

The Commissioners said they know the hospital is important to the county but that they do not have the budget to support them.

"The information that we received today that the hospital may close within 60 days is new to us, we are going to have to do our due diligence as a board to look into the matter and try to come us with a solution that works for everyone but at this point in time we're not set up to go into the hospital business," says Commissioner John Meeks.

At this point, the commissioners say they'll meet with hospital officials and investigate the matter. Meanwhile, the hospital says if it can't get help in 60 days, it will likely shut down for good.