A protest that began in May 2019 at Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., is winding down as participants refocus their energy into a grassroots movement to create a hospital authority, local News Channel 11 WJHL reports.
The protest was a response to a decision by Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health, the hospital's parent company, to move trauma care and the neonatal intensive care unit to Johnson City Medical Center, according to the report. However, protest organizer Tara "Dani" Cook told WJHL that when protestors began receiving citations from the city, it shifted the focus away from their mission to the protest itself.
Ms. Cook also faces a property damage complaint, filed by Ballad Health Chief Security Officer Ken Harr in November, for setting up tarps and tents that killed the grass around the hospital.
Now Ms. Cook plans to begin the process of establishing a hospital authority, which she hopes will replace the Ballad Health board of directors, according to the report.
Read more here.
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