It’s peculiar how sometimes the very systems that are built to help us are the ones that need help the most.

Sadly, help wasn’t enough for this hospital before it was forced to close its doors for the last time in 2001.
This one-story brick facility was built in the late 1960’s as the only hospital for this entire rural county of 9,000 people. With the other(?) closest other(?) hospital being 90 mins away, this was the beginning of a new dawn for a poverty-stricken county and brought hope to a community that desperately needed it. However, the new hope would soon vanish
After being open for only 6 years it was forced to close for the first time in the early 1970’s due to a corruption scandal in the county that cut funds for the hospital. It wasn’t until the mid 80’s when the hospital was revived by a non profit organization. This new organization was designed to assist the hospital with its staggering 1 million dollar debt and to keep the hospital distant from continual widespread corruption in the local government. However, the hospital wasn’t out of the woods yet. Local farmers and factory workers still couldn’t afford the rising costs of healthcare to keep the hospital out of crippling debt. Additionally, more corruption was soon to occur.


In the late 90’s, a large sum of money was missing from the reserve account set aside by the county commission. Although no one was ever charged with stealing the money, there were several people to resign when confronted, including the CEO of the non profit. The money was never accounted for. With the now 1.2 million dollar debt looming overhead, it all became too much when in 2001, there were major cuts to Medicaid and forced the hospital to file bankruptcy and close its doors for the last time.
This began a unstoppable domino effect that left this entire county in devastated
Now with the closest hospital being 90 minutes away, health insurance for many of the town’s industries skyrocketed, causing many of them to move out of the area. As a result, the local economy quickly disintegrated and left thousands without work. Sadly, the ripple of damage didn’t stop there. The death rate of county has almost tripled since the hospital’s closing and the heart attack rate has risen by 40 percent.
It’s a sad story of how corruption robbed the county of any hope of thriving. Not only did it seal the fate for a hospital the community desperately needed, but it destroyed so many lives and stifled the industrial future of the county. There are still talks of the town one day reviving the hospital but it at this point, it seems more of a far-fetched idea than a reality.

#AbandonedHospital

Gear used for this video:
- Sony α7r II
- Vario-Tessar 16-35mm

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