Story By Katie Hightower
On July 11, the Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce hosted Jackson County’s first State of Healthcare address at Goose Pond Civic Center. At the address, three executives from Huntsville Hospital and Highlands Medical Center gave details about services available in Jackson County, how services have improved in the past few years and their vision for the future.
Brian Presson, Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman, welcomed the crowd and introduced the speakers for the event. He also sang the National Anthem. Pastor Greg DeVries of The Well gave an invocation and Nora Hill led the Pledge of Allegiance. Angie Childress and her team from Highlands Medical Center provided breakfast for the event.
“We are very excited about the partnership between Highlands Medical Center and Huntsville Hospital,” Presson said. “This is a situation of rural healthcare meets the excellence of a large regional progressive medical enterprise and we all benefit from this partnership.”
Sam Dean, Executive VP of Regional Hospital Operations for Huntsville Hospital, was the first speaker. Dean, an Auburn graduate, was responsible for overseeing several hospitals outside of Madison County. He had over 20 years of healthcare leadership experience before taking his position with Huntsville Hospital.
Dean said that with the network of hospitals in the system, they worked together to provide care to community. He also said Huntsville Hospital provided $171.39 million in uncompensated care to the region with $15 million of that in Jackson County. He said the system had over 20,000 employees with 800 in Jackson County and a $5.5 billion regional economic impact with $130 million in Jackson County. Dean said growth was expected for Jackson County and the hospital was preparing for the expected growth and Huntsville Hospital invested over $14.5 million in capital since Highlands joined the health system including security upgrades, physician recruitment and updated medical equipment.
Dean said with the Medicaid changes in the Big Beautiful Bill, the hospitals would not be impacted that much since it was already really bad in Alabama to begin with. He also said with the rural healthcare bill, they needed to work to capitalize on that.
John Howell, President of Emergency Medical Services with Huntsville Hospital, was the second speaker. Howell has been with HEMSI since 1984 when he worked with EMS. As he worked, he earned a bachelor’s degree from UAH and pursued post-graduate studies. He then served in several leadership positions before becoming President of Huntsville Health System’s EMS.
Howell said there were 125 ambulances in the Huntsville Hospital system’s EMS fleet that traveled over four million miles per year with over 170,000 calls per year. Each ambulance was tracked with GPS. Howell said he wanted to support Highlands EMS to serve Jackson County. Howell said Highlands EMS’s nine ambulances traveled almost 350,000 miles and answered over 10,000 calls each year. He said HH invested in two new ambulances last year and there will be another new one added to Highlands’ fleet next week. He said within the next two years, he estimated all of the ambulances with Highlands to be within two to three years old. Howell said Huntsville Hospital invested in centralized fleet maintenance which included four full-time maintenance technicians which repaired and maintained the ambulances faster than external vendors.
“Chris Hawes and his team and Highlands EMS do a great job for this community and Jackson County,” Howell said. “We just want to support that and we want to help them continue to deliver great emergency medical care because EMS is one of those facets of healthcare that you never really think of until you need it.”
The last speaker was Ashley Poole. Poole, President of Highlands Medical Center, has a master’s degree in Nursing from UAH and a master’s degree in healthcare management from Vanderbilt University. She began her career as a nurse and worked more than 16 years as a nurse practitioner and owner of a rural clinic in Limestone County. Prior to her position at Highlands, she served as CEO and COO of Lakeland Community Hospital in Haleyville,
“I had a vision of hosting a State of Healthcare Address and with the support of the Chamber, that vision has come to life,” Poole said. “My hope was to bring together, not just healthcare professionals or community leaders, but neighbors—people who care deeply about the well-being of our families, our friends and our future.”
Poole started her speech by recognizing first responders in Jackson County: three fire stations in Scottsboro, 14 volunteer fire departments in Jackson County, five EMS stations and the Air Evac Lifeteam. She said thanks to Chris Hawes, they were able to identify a critical need in the county and provide 23 go-bags to the fire stations in Jackson County. The go-bags were filled with critical tools like tourniquets, gauze and airway supplies. She also recognized Jackson County’s EMA Director, Joshua Whitcom, for his help with an emergency response plan for any emergency situation that may hit Jackson County.
Poole said that Jackson County had five primary care clinics affiliated with Highlands Medical Center, six clinics that serve the county and 11 clinics that serve Scottsboro. Poole recognized Northeast Alabama Services for their mobile health unit that has brought affordable care to Bridgeport on the first Tuesday of every month.
She said there were six specialty clinics affiliated with Highlands Medical Center and 19 that serve the city of Scottsboro. She said the clinics included wound care, podiatry, pediatrics, ENT, general surgery, OBGYN, orthopedics, sleep, dermatology, aesthetics and weight loss. She said her goal was expand the list of specialty clinics to include more services.
Poole said rehabilitation assisted living, memory care and long term care were essential because they represent the continuum of care and they were critical to quality of life for the community. She said Highlands Care Center, Cloverdale Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Cumberland Care Center, Rosewood Manor, Southern Estates and As Close As Family all made a real impact on the community in caring for aging loved ones.
She said they were proud partners of the Veterans Home Care Vet Assist Program. She also recognized hospice providers for the preservation of the quality of life and emotional support for their patients and their families.
Poole said Jackson County faced challenges with mental health care and it needed more support than what was available. She said Mountain Lakes Behavioral Health served as the cornerstone of mental healthcare in Jackson County.
“Mental health is a vital part of our community and while we still face gaps, we are grateful for the people and organizations working tirelessly to support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of those we serve,” Poole said.
Poole said there were five pharmacies that served Scottsboro and eight pharmacies that served Jackson County. She said with a county as large as Jackson County, it was impressive that have that many pharmacies providing access to medications.
Poole said Jackson County’s greatest strengths was its commitment to workforce development, its community leaders and its growth. She said collaboration with Northeast Alabama Community College, Scottsboro High School and Kevin Dukes Career and Innovation Academy helped give students the tools they needed to pursue careers in healthcare. She said Jackson County’s leaders stay involved and show up to not only meetings but to community events.
Poole said challenges for Jackson County involve staffing, financial pressures and improving the patient experience.
“Delivering an exceptional patient care experience consistently, especially amid staffing shortages and financial constraints, remains one of the toughest challenges we face.” Said Poole. “These aren’t problems with quick fixes but they’re also not problems we face alone. Across Jackson County, we’re stronger when we collaborate, share resources and focus on long-term solutions that focus on long term solutions that work for real communities like ours.”
Poole said there were opportunities to the aging population’s needs and grow the local hospital’s services.
“The future of healthcare in Jackson County is not just a hope. It’s a shared commitment and it’s already in motion. It’s up to us to keep it moving,” Poole said. “Jackson County is growing, our hospital is growing and our potential is growing right alongside it. Together, let’s continue building a system of care that reflects the heart, the strength and the beauty of the place we are so proud to call home.”
