Below is a letter from Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, on the fight to re-open a hospital in the small town of Belhaven. The hospital was closed by the private company that bought it, Vidant Health, because it wasn’t making enough money serving a largely rural and poor community. The Republican mayor of the town, Adam O’Neal, reached out to both his own party and the Democrats for help, but none came. He reached out to Rev. Barber and the NAACP, and they came and did all they could to support the town in trying keep the hospital open. After it was closed, and a woman died waiting for transport to the next-nearest hospital, Mayor O’Neal walked from his town to Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the situation there. He was joined by Bob Zellner the whole way. They walked again the next summer, joined by people from around the country, including the Kairos Center, and this time bringing a message about the national rural health crisis, and the epidemic of hospital closures.
Now, the re-opening of the hospital is within reach. To learn more about this long fight, you can read this interview with Bob Zellner (look for the “Walking to Save Rural Hospitals” section), as well as our reports from the walk this past summer.
April 6, 2016
Dear Friends,
In this Resurrection season as spring comes to the Pamlico delta, when we are focused on love and hope, we are reminded of renewal. I am happy to announce all the obstacles to the reopening of the Belhaven Hospital have been overcome–except one!
The last obstacle to the rebirth of the Hospital is an organization called Pantego Creek, LLC. According to local officials, this organization has four individual managers: Brantley Tillman, Debrah Sparrow, Darren Armstrong and Lynn Ross. The LLC is now in control of the actual hospital property. The property was given to them by agreement when Vidant Health closed it in July 2014. The four managers have no personal money in the facility, our research revealed, and therefore they have no reason to keep it from the very people who paid for the facility — the people of the Belhaven Community.
The North Carolina NAACP is dedicated to fighting alongside the people of Northeastern Beaufort and Hyde counties in reopening their hospital. We are lending our people power and legal team to help reacquire the hospital. Nonviolent direct actions we are considering include a march with representatives from across North Carolina and informational pickets. We will conduct non-violent training workshops in the community over the next month to prepare for these actions. Informational pickets and leafleting are planned at the homes, churches, and businesses of the managers and others.
[aesop_image img=”https://kairoscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/thewalk2014mayorwithpicture.jpg” alt=”Mayor Adam O’Neal holds up a picture of Portia Gibbs, who died waiting for transport after Belhaven Hospital was closed.” align=”center” lightbox=”off” caption=”Mayor Adam O’Neal holds up a picture of Portia Gibbs, who died waiting for transport after Belhaven Hospital was closed.” captionposition=”left”]
We pray for reconciliation within the Belhaven community. This is a moral issue. In Luke 4.18-19, the great moral mission of God is articulated as healing the brokenhearted, recovery of sight for the blind, and liberty for the bruised. It is time for Belhaven, a community with a broken heart, a community that has been bruised by the closing of its hospital because of the blindness and greed of a corporate hospital conglomerate, to be made whole.
This struggle, however, is bigger than Belhaven. The long struggle to reopen the hospital and the obstacles we have been forced to overcome, has made Belhaven a national symbol of the fight to save rural hospitals. We have walked to Washington D.C. twice, walked to Raleigh, and have been supported by the national rural hospital association. We hope the LLC managers give the entire nation reason to celebrate God’s grace and joy when people come together across political, race and generational lines to accomplish great things.
Sincerely,
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II
President, NC NAACP