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 / Modified sep 12, 2015 11:19 a.m.

AZ Week: Rural Hospitals Disappear Nationwide

Arizona border community of Douglas lost its hospital in July; Bisbee, Sierra Vista pick up the slack.

Douglas is a border community of about 18,000 people and as of about a month ago, it had no hospital.

Arizona Week Friday looks at the loss of rural hospitals across the country.

On the program:

  • The closest hospital is now the Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, a 30-minute drive from Douglas. CEO Jim Dickson said the hospital immediately felt an increase in patient load when the Douglas hospital closed.
  • Host Lorraine Rivera interviewed Dean French, CEO of the Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista. That hospital expanded in April and now offers a Level 3 trauma center. Note: French will soon leave Sierra Vista to become the become the CEO of Community Medical Center in Missoula, Mont., the Sierra Vista Herald reported.
  • In recent years, more than 50 rural hospitals have closed nationwide. Dan Derksen and the Arizona Center for Rural Health examined what causes these closures and the future for rural health care.
  • A tribute to the men and women killed 14 years ago in the 9/11 attacks.
MORE: Arizona, Arizona Week, Health & Medicine, News
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