Vidant Health, based in Greenville, N.C., will not close its hospital in Belhaven, N.C., according to a Daily Reflector report.
The news comes after several months of public debate surrounding Vidant Pungo Hospital. Last September, Vidant said it would close the 25-bed Vidant Pungo by this spring and build a 24-hour multispecialty care clinic in its place. David Herman, MD, president and CEO of Vidant, said the critical access hospital was not financially sustainable, but the clinic would still provide vital care to the community.
However, Vidant and the North Carolina NAACP reached an agreement that will keep Vidant Pungo open. According to the deal, Vidant will operate the hospital through July 1. Until then, Vidant and the Belhaven community will create a board that will eventually take over the hospital in a transfer of ownership, according to a statement from the groups.
All hospital employees will keep their jobs through June 30, and most are expected to keep their jobs once the Pungo District Hospital board is created and takes control.
The NAACP and Belhaven Mayor Adam O'Neal have actively protested the closure of Vidant Pungo, which sits in a poor, predominantly black community. This past January, Mr. O'Neal wrote an op-ed in The Daily Reflector, calling the potential hospital closure "immoral."
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