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Congressman Bennie Thompson discusses the challenges of rural health with healthcare leaders. Photo by: Carleigh Harbin, Progressive Health Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUBMITTED BY: Progressive Health Group Staff

Congressman Bennie Thompson and Congresswoman Katherine Clark Visit Progressive Health of Marks to Address Rural Health Challenges

Marks, Mississippi – June 19 — Progressive Health of Marks, a Critical Access Hospital serving the rural community of Quitman County, recently hosted U.S. Congressman Bennie G. Thompson and Congresswoman Katherine Clark for a focused discussion on the challenges and future of rural health care.

The visit centered on critical issues impacting rural hospitals, including limited funding, workforce shortages, and access to care for underserved populations. Key topics included the proposed ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ potential Medicaid cuts, and the urgent need for long-term policy solutions to stabilize and strengthen health care in rural areas.

Congressman Thompson and Congresswoman Clark toured the hospital, met with staff, providers, and administrators, and participated in a roundtable with local officials and health care advocates. The discussion emphasized the need for federal support and legislative action to ensure that rural hospitals can continue to provide essential services to their communities.

Progressive Health of Marks, which reopened in 2021 after being closed for five years, offers 24/7 emergency care, radiology, respiratory therapy, lab services, and is expanding to include an inpatient senior care unit and an Intensive Outpatient Program to address the gap in mental health services in this community. As one of the few remaining health care providers in the region, the hospital plays a vital role in sustaining the health and well-being of Quitman County residents.

The visit reinforced the importance of keeping rural health care at the forefront of national conversations, particularly as policymakers consider reforms that could significantly impact hospitals in low-access areas.

Media Contact:

Carleigh Harbin
Marketing
(662) 273-8424
carleigh@phghealth.com
https://www.phgmarks.com/

Though classes for the 2024-2025 academic year are just underway, preparation for the Advanced Placement courses students are taking through the Global Teaching Project’s Advanced STEM Access Program began in earnest in June at Mississippi State University.

Photos from the Summer Program show the enthusiasm for learning our students demonstrated, and the excitement they showed in being in the company of other promising students from rural Mississippi.  The photos also show the level of engagement of our instructors and tutors (who this year came from Georgia Tech, Harvard, Illinois, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Virginia, and Yale.)

GTP’s Summer Program, now in its eighth year, provides immersive instruction to promising high school students who reside on campus and prepare for the rigor of the AP Biology, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Physics 1, and AP Statistics classes they will take through GTP in the upcoming school year.  The Summer Program is provided free of charge to students, and uses no state or local funds.

We look forward to building upon the work begun in Starkville, and to a productive year of learning ahead.

GTP’s Advanced STEM Access Program provides promising students from rural Mississippi communities access to advanced STEM courses they need to achieve their full potential, but which their schools otherwise may not be able to offer. 

The Quitman County Economic & Tourism Department will be presenting the latest news and development on projects coming in the future to Quitman County. This is a public forum to hear updates and provide feedback on projects related to infrastructure, housing, broadband, and tourism.

Click Here to view/download PDF

As part of our their Advanced STEM Winter Program, the Global Teaching Project hosted Civil Rights veteran Ms. Velma Benson Wilson.  She spoke with their students about her experience walking with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when she was herself a high school student in Quitman County, as well as about her current efforts as a Quitman County administrator to commemorate the Marks Mule Train, which Dr. King launched there.

Global Teaching Project’s Winter Program seeks to affirm the nexus between Civil Rights and educational opportunity—in learning from leaders like Ms. Wilson, their hope is that students will be encouraged to build upon the work of earlier generations.

View Presentation  >>>

(MARKS, MS) It is miraculous! The local stakeholders and residents of Quitman County are awaiting the highly-anticipated reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony of the county’s rural access hospital, scheduled for November 12, 2021 at 10:30 a.m.

See Photo Gallery of the Grand Opening HERE.

When the Quitman County rural critical access hospital closed in 2016, it was a devastating blow to the community. Clamoring for hope, Marks/Quitman County, Miss. recently got a full-service grocery store back and has set its sights on local tourism, especially with the 2018 grand opening of the Amtrak station in Marks. Caught by a vision for renewal, a local hospital operator approached the County leaders with a message, “Let’s re-open the hospital and bring back jobs so that we can save lives.” Quentin Whitwell grew up in Oxford some forty miles away and with two business partners saved the bankrupt neighboring hospital in Batesville, Panola Medical Center, in March 2019 when that facility was set to close at midnight. He saw Quitman County as an outpost that needed robust healthcare services. Having served in the State capital city of Jackson as a City Councilman, rural healthcare came naturally — help people in service.

Marks, is the county seat of Quitman County, a small rural town with less than 2,000 residents, has a deep-roots in agriculture and civil rights history. Marks/Quitman County served as the starting point of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, an effort to gain economic justice for those who suffered from poverty. Due to this national civil rights history, Quitman County is  designated as part of the Mississippi Freedom Trail. In 2011, Marks was selected from over 200 sites viewed as one of the thirty locations in Mississippi to receive a historical marker by the Mississippi Freedom Trail Task Force.

Many of its current residents live below the poverty line. Because of out-migration, the land and its people have suffered in recent years. Healthcare is scarce, and the local hospital closed in October of 2016. COVID-19 has wrecked the area boasting 1,042 cases and 27 deaths this year as the aptly named “Delta variant” swept through its population.

The Panola Med team partnered with the Board of Supervisors to establish Quitman Community Hospital. To the board, it is a statement to take back their community and restore it to its glory. For Quentin, it’s a message that nothing is impossible when people work together, and local bank President Peyton Self did not hesitate to answer the call. Armed with a one-million-dollar loan secured by the County and provided by the Citizens Bank of Marks, Quitman Community Hospital will open its doors again fully functioning as a medical-surgical hospital with an around-the-clock Emergency Department.

Racing ahead, the Panola Med team has hired nurses and providers, techs, and staff. Over 500 applicants have sent in resumes from locals to as far as Boston. The old hospital has been restored with supplies, equipment, and beds. By meeting the State and Federal guidelines of a critical access hospital, the City of Marks and Quitman County are poised for a brighter future.

The phone number for the new Quitman Community Hospital is 662-388-0700.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8,  2021

Quentin Whitwell, CEO Panola Med
662-388-0700
www.panolamed.com

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https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-health-8bce0975bf60e5cd942e6d492b22b5de

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/north-mississippi-hospital-reopens-after-shutting-down-5-years-ago/2WD25EUZ75G25CQQKSAM4RC7OM/

https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/11/13/bridging-great-health-divide-hospital-reopens-medically-underserved-town-marks-mississippi/

https://www.wreg.com/news/mid-south/quitman-countys-only-hospital-reopens/

https://mississippitoday.org/2021/11/12/quitman-county-hospital-reopens/

(MARKS, MS) – The hospital in Quitman County closed on October 31, 2016, as the county’s largest employer with 99 people. Without healthcare, despondency has grown with in the unemployed. Current acute healthcare situations have worsened due to the length of time it takes to receive critical medical and healthcare services in neighboring counties, which is at minimum a 30-minute drive.

With the county’s resolve to reopen, a partnership has been created with nearby Panola Medical Center. A path has been cleared for the Quitman Community Hospital to reopen by vote of the Quitman County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning. The hospital will have the capacity to provide emergency care as well as beds for acute patients, including those with COVID-19.

Manuel Killebrew, President of the Quitman County Board of Supervisors stated that he is “elated that the board, Delta Medical Foundation and Panola Medical Center in Batesville are forming a partnership to reopen the hospital.” Killebrew went on to say, “This means that 75-100 good paying jobs will return to the county, and it goes without saying, we need a hospital close by to provide medical services for our citizens.”

Panola Medical Center was re-established by its acquisition from a bankrupt estate and has improved its bottom line, grown its services and become a partner with local industrial and government partners. Quentin Whitwell, CEO and Chairman of the Board, made a statement about Panola’s influence and the Quitman re- opening. “Serving our patient populations in the North Delta region is our mission. Providing exceptional care for better health is our driven passion.”

“By reopening this hospital, the loss of jobs in the community will be reversed and the citizens of Marks will have renewed energy to grow the economy in the area,” stated Senator Robert Jackson, who represents the State of Mississippi, District Eleven, which includes Quitman County. “I am pleased to have brought the Panola Med operators to the Board and that this new relationship has been forged.”

“The practical care we give every day needs follow-up and ease of access to specialists that can tend to higher acuity levels. But having a launching point from our own hospital will save lives and create new outcomes for patients,” said Lonnie Moore, a local Nurse Practitioner who also owns the former hospital building, and the president of Delta Medical Foundation.

Quitman County is located in the Mississippi Delta. This is a rural underserved county with the racial makeup of 27.3 % whites, 70.9% blacks and 1.8 % others. It has a median annual household income of $25,383 and a poverty rate of 35.6%, making it one of the poorest counties in the United States. The 2020 Census data shows Quitman County population declined by -17.40%. This county went from 8,223 to 6,792 residents living in this county, the largest percentage of lost population out of the 82 counties located within the State of Mississippi.

Recent data from the National Rural Accountable Care Consortium ranked Quitman County 79th for health outcomes, 79th for health behavior, and 77th for health factors out of the 82 counties in Mississippi. This data also indicates that the county struggles with health issues such as 58% of the adult population dealing with high blood pressure, 45% with high cholesterol, 31% with heart disease, and 17% with diabetes.

In recent years, Quitman County has shown glimmers of promise and resilience. In April 2021, the closed SuperValu reopened as an independently-owned Jeffcoat’s Family Market. In May 2018, the ribbon cutting was held for the opening of the newest Northwest Regional Amtrak stop in Marks. And, due to the county’s rich 1960s civil rights history, ties to four National Historic Native American Mounds, iconic blues artists and country music late great Charley Pride, and a National Wildlife Refuge, Quitman County is becoming a nascent tourism destination.

Having the Quitman Community Hospital back up and running will make a significant difference in the quality of life for its residents, and help change the trajectory of the exodus of the county’s population.

Press Release PDF