Sevier County Judge Greg Ray and Sevier County RDA Chair Dr. Steve Cole met last Friday in Little Rock with the county's health care legal team to discuss next steps in building the new hospital in De Queen.

During the meeting, the group focused on completing the feasibility study for the new hospital by June 10th. That is the first step to be completed as this will show all of the county's stakeholders what the costs will look like to build and operate the new hospital. This step will also show the approximate cost of the bond issue that voters will need to approve to move forward with the project.

According to Dr. Cole, "The meeting at the Friday firm was extremely important as it now charts a clear course of action that will be based on sound financial data." Also in the meeting, Judge Ray and Dr. Cole received good news on the possiblity of a more friendly time frame in which to ask for two ballot questions to construct a new hospital for Sevier County. Judge Ray added, "Based on our meeting on Friday we, along with members of the Quorum Court can now see that our path to a new hospital can happen a little sooner than we originally thought, but we and county and RDA officials still have a lot of decisions to make...and we will base those on sound financial data and the advice of our legal team".

In the meantime, local officials are still working with the current receiver of the hospital Rachel Matheson to properly close the old De Queen Medical Center. "When hospitals close there are many protocols that people just never think to do, and we are all involved in making sure these things happen as it will impact the future of the new hospital, so we want to make sure we get that part right", according to Cole. While there are no set dates for any of these processes, there is progress being made each day towards having a new hospital in De Queen. "We know we must have a hospital in Sevier County and we are focused on that each day", added Judge Ray.