Poarch Creeks To Swap Land For New Atmore Hospital

July 26, 2019

The Poarch Creek Indians will enter into a land swap for a new hospital in Atmore.

Mayor Jim Staff said PCI will trade 10 acres near the city’s Rivercane development for the 10 acres currently occupied by the hospital on Medical Park Drive. The new hospital will be located on Highway 21 just south of I-65.

Atmore Community Hospital is owned by the Escambia County Healthcare Authority (ECHA) and currently managed by Infirmary Health. That deal ends next Wednesday, with ECHA assuming management on August 1.

ECHA has approached the Atmore City Council several times seeking a Rivercane land donation, but none of those requests have been approved.

A feasibility study recommended replacement of  the aging hospital on Medical Park Drive with new construction including a 10-bed emergency room, 27 patient rooms, ICU, at least one operating room, urgent care and other medical services. One estimate put the cost of the new hospital at $32 million.

NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

16 Responses to “Poarch Creeks To Swap Land For New Atmore Hospital”

  1. Too late on July 30th, 2019 7:33 pm

    Atmore’s problems have been ignored for years. No industry in Atmore that rewards employees with the kind of pay that can empower them to live and contribute to the community. More people would enjoy dining at the Gather than the dollar menu at McDonalds. Many of the older homes and neighborhoods might have been able to remodel. Many people that left this area to find a better life somewhere else, may have stayed. Maybe the town could have taken notes from other sources or towns. Most likely, any ideas about improving things for the community in the past were ignored because they wouldn’t have benefited the powers behind the scene. Atmore people send their kids across the state line because nobody wants their kids in school in this town. Atmore has been selling themselves to Florida and now Poarch.

  2. @davisvilleresident on July 28th, 2019 1:14 am

    How many acres are needed for a hospital in town? What about the old Harold Allen mobile home lot? There’s 15 acres for sale there. Just wondering. Right off the main road also. Let’s make our home town look attractive and people will be willing to spend their hard earned dollars there!

  3. Shelby N Chavis on July 27th, 2019 11:25 pm

    Atmore hospital sucks !!! No good er doctors… they can never give you the proper diagnosis… many people have lost their lives here being misdiagnosed. Why not allow something new to come in ? Why are you so scared of change and growth… ??? They take care of who they want… No one should have to drive an hour to get what’s important… What’s 8 miles up the road… ???

  4. Golden Boy on July 27th, 2019 3:52 pm

    Atmore is slowly becoming the town that use to be named….. I’m not a fan of redistribution of wealth (or “fixed incomes”/non-wealth) at all. And there is one monopoly in this area that benefits from it. And when you speak up about it, some cry foul. Like our President you have to call things out before anything can get done.

    Swapping free land for property with an assessed public value only benefited one entity. Disagree but the truth is the truth. And how can anybody gamble responsibly when it’s become survival for some and not just for fun??

  5. CW on July 27th, 2019 10:33 am

    @Jerry

    What progress are you talking about? When I look around I don’t see much progress at all. Atmore’s neighborhoods are still declining and people are still leaving for better places. Those fast food joints at the interstate only benefit people passing through, not people who actually live here. I know I sure don’t drive 8 miles for a hamburger.

    Smart Growth America has already recommended leaving the hospital in town where the citizens actually live, but the board chose to ignore that advice. Let’s get real here, that hospital will be put there to benefit gamblers and the prison inmates, and will not be in Atmore’s best interest.

  6. jerry on July 27th, 2019 12:19 am

    You can all thank gambing for this, if not for gambling Atmore would not have progressed. Look at all the things that have improved, new businesses, jobs, and now a new updated hospital. We should all be very thankful

  7. Piney Woods on July 26th, 2019 10:54 pm

    They have taken good care of my family over the last decade and I thank them for
    Their services and their hard work. Let’s just hope the politicians will work as hard as the docs and nurses to make this work.

  8. Palakika on July 26th, 2019 3:49 pm

    New hospital usually means new personal. Give it a chance. Being by I-65 it should be accessible by more people. It’s hidden away on a back street now with no direction signs.This sounds like progress to me!

  9. TheOldGuy on July 26th, 2019 2:39 pm

    These comments astound me. Everybody wants to bad mouth ACH.
    EVERY hospital in this area has had instances that left a bad taste in their mouth. Now the hospital has/is moving a few miles north of town. Funny, that the same people complaining about the move. Question, WHERE WERE YOU when the town hall meeting was being held? Also just so you can understand the nurses are NOT your personal maid. These hard working men and women are there to save your butt NOT KISS IT. Most of you have no problem driving to the interstate to eat or spend money at the businesses out there.
    But you now are up set that it is being moved. No wonder Atmore has been on a downhill slide for awhile.

  10. chris on July 26th, 2019 1:00 pm

    My experience at this facility as an ER patient was less than admirable. I was given a tub of disinfectant and a cotton ball and told to clean my own wound before it would be stitched up. I felt as if I was at Home Depot based on the DIY attitude of the staff.

  11. CW on July 26th, 2019 9:57 am

    It won’t matter. It’s not the building that’s the problem, it’s many of the people who work there. Even with a new hospital, I will still go to North Baldwin in Bay Minette if I’m able to.

  12. Jean on July 26th, 2019 9:57 am

    Moving the hospital will hurt elderly, that has to depend on relatives or
    friends to get there. But everything else is leaving Atmore so why not
    the hospital.

  13. Northendbratt on July 26th, 2019 9:54 am

    It doesn’t matter where the hospital is, until new health care providers are brought in it is still not going to be a good place to go for any medical issue.Over the years we’ve heard horror stories of what bad treatment received at Atmore hospital!Some of the same folks have worked there this whole time, what does that say? Another example is Walmart, who would have thought that a Walmart would be a place no one wanted to shop at, especially when we don’t have another choice? Well,the Walmart in

  14. Jamie on July 26th, 2019 9:38 am

    I suggest they just renovate the hospital and downtown Atmore . Make the schools great again! The entire town needs a major update not just near the interstate. Make Atmore better for everyone.

  15. M in Bratt on July 26th, 2019 9:27 am

    If they move it much farther north, they could call it the frisco city hospital, but I guess the indians do need their own hospital

  16. Willis on July 26th, 2019 8:38 am

    Take the Hospital out of Town….. to move out by the interstate ??
    Maybe there’s not many people using it anyway.