January 22, 2024 |
Photo – MHCC Family Practice Clinic in Hanna – Courtesy MHCC
At the medical clinic in Hanna, the sudden departure of a new nurse has forced the facility to call in providers from other municipalities to help.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Peggy Lake retired from the Hanna clinic in November. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, which runs the clinic, quickly found a replacement nurse to take Lake’s place. Now the clinic is back to square one. Speaking at the November 7th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, MHCC Director of Strategic Operations Stephanie Hinkle said Advanced Nurse Practitioner Julie Freeman would be moving from Texas to run the clinic in Hanna.
Hinkle said Nurse Freeman was scheduled to officially take over the Hanna clinic on December 2nd.
One month later, at the December 5th commissioners meeting, hospital CEO Rex Walk introduced Nurse Freeman. Walk said members of the First Baptist Church in Hanna helped Nurse Freeman move into her home.
Nurse Freeman told commissioners that Hanna resident Ellen Freeman, no relation, assembled a team of Baptist church parishioners to help unload her moving truck. Freeman said she was surprised by the warm welcome she received from the Hanna residents.
Despite the positive start, Freeman didn’t operate the Hanna clinic for long. On Thursday, January 18th, Memorial Hospital of Carbon County released a statement saying the Hanna clinic no longer has a full-time medical provider.
In the press release, Director of Strategic Operations Hinkle said, “MHCC wishes to inform the citizens of Hanna and the surrounding areas of the following changes regarding clinical care options due to recent changes in provider coverage. At the present time, effective February 1st, providers from other MHCC family practice clinic locations will be providing coverage at a minimum of one day a week at the Hanna clinic on a rotational basis to ensure continued care is available in Hanna.”
Hinkle continued by saying the hospital is searching for qualified applicants.
A source close to this story informed Bigfoot99 that after getting established in Hanna, MHCC refused to offer Nurse Freeman a contract to work at the clinic. The source said Nurse Freeman realized that she should have gotten a signed employment contract before moving to Wyoming, but that she was too excited to live near her family. The source said Freeman is planning to return to Texas at the end of this month.
These claims are unconfirmed. MHCC Marketing Coordinator Keishah Edwards did not offer a comment on the statements.
The same source told Bigfoot99 that the hospital was considering shuttering the medical clinic in Hanna. This time, Marketing Coordinator Edwards told Bigfoot99 that, “At this time, there is no talk of closing the Hanna clinic. We are confident we will find a full-time provider for that community. Provider recruitment can sometimes be a slower process due to all of the various components involved.”
According to hospital administrators, the Hanna clinic is not in danger of permanently closing. Bigfoot99 will continue to monitor the situation at the Hanna clinic and report back with any future developments.
