Bamberg Hospital Board votes to secure $450,000 bank loan for operations

BAMBERG — The Bamberg County Hospital and Nursing Center experienced another financially losing month in November, even after laying off 20 employees. BCHNC Chief Financial Officer Barney Osborne reported November’s loss at approximately $502,000 during the Hospital Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday. Anticipated bottom-line improvements because of the layoffs will be more noticeable after December since they occurred mid-month in November, Osborne said.

He noted that patient numbers have increased in the past two weeks and that revenues are expected to bounce back as a result of that. The BCHNC Trustees approved obtaining a $450,000 loan for operating capital from Regions Bank, using accounts receivables as collateral. Trustees had sought a loan for the same amount in October using fixed assets as security but did not obtain approval from Bamberg County Council for that action.

Nationally-recognized rural health care consultants Stroudwater Associates have been hired to provide financial planning assistance to the troubled hospital and will be on-site the second week of January to interview staff. Trustees also voted Tuesday to place a sign on the U.S. 301 property, advertising it as the future site of the new Bamberg County Hospital.

The BCHNC Board announced back in early November that the facility had a combined loss of $2.2 million for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 and that it would need to borrow money to continue operating. The planned replacement hospital would also have to be scaled back, hospital officials said. Originally, plans called for building a $47 million, 59-bed hospital with two operating rooms and an endoscopy suite.