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Appalachian Regional Healthcare System Held Public Info Session About Cannon Memorial

Speakers at the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System public information session included ARHS CEO Chuck Mantooth, CEO, Cannon Memorial President Carmen Lacy and ARHS Trustees Chair John Blackburn. Photos by Jim Swinkola

Appalachian Regional Healthcare System held a public information session regarding the future operations at Cannon Memorial Hospital in Linville on Tuesday at the Hugh Chapman Center on the Cannon campus. Speakers included ARHS CEO Chuck Mantooth, CEO, Cannon Memorial President Carmen Lacy and ARHS Trustees Chair John Blackburn.

Recently, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services (NCDHHS) selected Cannon Memorial Hospital for a $6.5 million grant from the state to convert unused inpatient acute care beds into 27 inpatient behavioral health beds.

When the grant was announced, Mantooth said, “We are extremely pleased to receive this grant from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. It will allow Cannon Hospital and ARHS to significantly impact the behavioral health crisis occurring in North Carolina.”

The funding for this grant originated from the Dorothea Dix Hospital Property Fund, which was created by the North Carolina General Assembly from the sale of Dorothea Dix Hospital in 2015. The Dorothea Dix Hospital Property Fund was established as a part of NCDHHS’s plan to expand the number of beds that provide crisis stabilization and inpatient behavioral health care.  The plan calls for 150 new behavioral health inpatient beds across the state.

Over the last five years Cannon Hospital has experienced a drastic increase in the demand for behavioral health inpatient beds from across the region. In 2016 Cannon Hospital received over 5,000 psychiatric referrals, but was only able to admit 560 psychiatric patients. Additionally, in 2014 the US Health Resources and Services Administration reported that, “30 counties in North Carolina were designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas.” Avery County (where Cannon Hospital operates), was among those counties.

Currently Cannon Hospital operates as a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital and as a 10-bed behavioral health unit. Cannon Hospital also provides an emergency department, imaging, laboratory, outpatient behavioral health, a rehabilitation center, a surgery suite, and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation services. This full-service medical campus is the hub of healthcare delivery in Avery County.

Mantooth commented on the future of Cannon Hospital by saying, “I want to be clear that Cannon Hospital will continue to meet the medical needs of the community by operating as a Critical Access Hospital. These additional behavioral health beds afford us the opportunity to grow the medical campus at Cannon Hospital and to develop the rural hospital of the future model, which can be replicated across the country.  These grant funds are a win for patients, our community, our healthcare system and the State of North Carolina.”

If you missed the public information session, check out the pamphlet below: