By Leslie N. Dees
An area resident’s nine-hour wait at the Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital’s emergency room prompted the Attala County United Methodist Churches Cluster to speak to the Attala County Board of Supervisors on Monday morning.
Peggy Keady, appointed spokesperson for the group, said she understood the care in the emergency room was prioritized by condition of the patient.
However, waiting nine hours in itself is an emergency, she said.
When someone is sick, Keady said they are not at their best but when people that work at the hospital are not at their best, then there is a problem.
The person that helps you should have the skills and compassion to help those in the ER, she said.
“We want to be able to use our hospital and not go to Jackson,” Keady said.
Board president Troy Hodges said he understands that there is a problem. He added that both he and Supervisor Tim Pinkard recently talked with MJMH Administrator John Dawson about the ER wait time and that Dawson was very much on top of it.
“Our ER gives our hospital a bad name,” Hodges said. “Two hours is too long to sit when you don’t feel good. I hope we see some change.”
He added that he and his wife had to wait four hours in the ER before they received treatment.
The supervisors encouraged the group to meet with the hospital board and at the request of the cluster, the supervisors agreed that at least one of them would attend the meeting.
The hospital board is appointed by the supervisors and MJMH is a county-owned facility.
