Citizens of Pickens County Left with No Hospital After Funds Were Reappropriated in the Alabama State Senate

By Donna Bain
Staff Writer

The Pickens County Medical Center closed in the spring of 2020, leaving the citizens of Pickens County without emergency room care for the last three years. To get emergency medical care, citizens must make the more than 30-mile trip to either Columbus, Mississippi, or Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

In 2022, the mayors and legislators representing Pickens County presented Governor Kay Ivey with close to 11,000 signatures from Pickens County citizens in support of reopening Pickens County Medical Center. The plan was for it to reopen as a childcare adolescent mental health treatment center and a local emergency room. The money to reopen the hospital was allocated by Governor Kay Ivey and passed in the Ala- bama House of Representatives. However, the money was reallocated when it reached the Alabama Senate. It was not given to Pickens County for the hospital but will be used in other ways throughout the state.