Editor's Notebook

There are many good qualities about the City of Purcell, including good schools, a solid business district and a thriving medical field.

Much of all that is because of Purcell Municipal Hospital.

Without the hospital, school enrollment would decrease. And attracting new business and industry would become a moot question.

The town would cease being a hub for medical care, which now attracts patients from Pauls Valley, Lexington, Davis, Wynnewood, Maysville, Ada and even Tulsa, Shawnee and others.

In the medical field, Purcell facilities employ around 430 people.

That figure includes not only PMH but also three nursing homes, pharmacies, Wadley’s EMS and the Chickasaw Nation.

That’s not even taking into account home health workers and physical therapy facilities.

If the hospital would go away, emergency care for heart attacks, strokes, broken bones and the like would have far more bad outcomes.

The nursing homes would be greatly affected.

It’s hard to imagine having to wait while Wadley’s EMS drives  a heart attack or stroke victim to Norman for treatment.

That would also mean 430 jobs would be in jeopardy. Those are jobs where people make a living to buy groceries, pay taxes, send their kids to school and make the community what it is.

The proof as to how important the hospital is to Purcell was in the voter response to the city increasing sales taxes to support the hospital.

The first vote was 87.48 percent yes. The second was a vote of 79.3 percent voting for the proposition.

The city council is currently discussing whether or not to charge the hospital for utilities – something no other department of city government currently pays for.

One of their arguments is because the hospital is making a profit, albeit a razor thin profit.

My thinking is if the hospital can afford to make those payments, then fine.

If not, we need to continue to support it to keep it open by any means necessary.