Aliceville Mayor Launches Petition To Reopen Pickens County Medical Center

REFORM, AL — Aliceville Mayor Terrence E. Windham has launched an online petition to rally community support for the reopening of Pickens County Medical Center after it closed in the spring of 2020.

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It was widely reported in early March 2020 that the financial condition of the 56-bed hospital left it unfeasible to remain open, despite grassroots efforts to ensure its survival.

Windham said Pickens County residents are being left to suffer and die without a hospital, which prompted him to launch the online petition. As of the publication of this story, it has received 574 signatures toward it goal of 1,000.

Click here to sign the petition.

"In March of 2020, at the dawn of a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Pickens County Medical Center permanently closed its doors to the more than 20,000 citizens it served," the mayor said. "This was a devastating blow to the community, even without a pandemic on the horizon."

Congresswoman Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Birmingham whose district includes parts of Pickens County, said the closure impacted 150 jobs, but also affected access to quality care for residents when the facility shut down for good.

“Since 2010, 14 Alabama hospitals have been forced to close their doors, and too many others have been forced to cut essential services," Sewell said in 2020. "Not only are our rural hospitals critical to providing the care Alabamians need to stay well, they are also economic drivers in the communities in which they serve. The Pickens County hospital, for example, is critical to the federal prison in Aliceville, local paper mill, and thousands of small businesses and residents across the county. When the hospital closes on Friday, thousands of residents of Pickens County will have to drive nearly an hour for hospital services."

Despite the looming uncertainty for Pickens County residents, Windham argues that the situation can still be resolved if state leaders can be convinced to allocate federal aids dollars toward the effort.

"The resources are already in place and available for disbursement," he said. "The state leaders simply need to have those funds allotted to reopening the Pickens County Medical Center. This will help save thousands of lives and give access to quality medical care to the more than 20,000 citizens of our community."

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