Hospital Authority Holds Regular Meeting

Toccoa Falls College will lease some property back from Stephens County Hospital.

The Stephens County Hospital Authority unanimously approved a lease agreement for the property with the college at its monthly meeting on Monday night.

Stephens County Hospital Administrator Lynne Anderson said the property that the college is leasing from the hospital is actually land that used to belong to TFC.

“Toccoa Falls had sold us 10 acres a couple of years ago and they approached us a while back and wanted to lease that 10 acres back because they have a farm program where they wanted to be able to raise some animals,” said Anderson.

Anderson said the hospital does not currently use the land and will charge Toccoa Falls College $10 per year for the lease to use the land.

Also on Monday, the Hospital Authority unanimously approved the hire of Becky Chambers as the hospital’s new Labor and Delivery Manager.

Anderson said Chambers will do an excellent job.

“She has worked with us for 14 years,” said Anderson. “She has been a charge nurse on the Labor and Delivery unit, so our current manager has accepted in North Carolina and Becky was interested in being promoted from within and we are very happy about that.”

Finally, the Hospital Authority also reported on Monday that it has paid off a bond issue from 2010.

Anderson said the hospital had two bond issues, one from 2006 and the one from 2010.

She said paying off the 2010 bond issue leaves the 2006 bond issue as the main remaining major debt on the hospital’s books.

“That is the majority of it,” said Anderson. “I believe that bond issue is about $3.8 million. We have some other small long-term debt, where we built the Wound Care Center and things like that, but that (bond issue) is the majority of it.”

Anderson said that Stephens County Hospital remains in strong shape when it comes to its long-term debt situation.