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One year ago Jefferson County Commissioners expressed concern over the appointment of an interim director at Cooper Green Mercy Health Services.

Roger McCullough was selected by HR dept. Receiver Ron Sims to take control of the troubled Sixth Avenue South facility.

Commissioners said they were never told of the appointment and wondered whether McCullough could address problems that had lingered at the facility since the hospital was downsized in 2013.

McCullough, who took over long after the hospital went from a full service hospital to a specialty clinic, has not only erased concerns, but has exceeded most expectations after 12 months on the job.

"I have heard nothing but success stories from some of patients that go there," said Commissioner Sandra Little Brown. "They're getting the proper medical care that they need. The atmosphere of the clinic is wholesome. The people are being taken care of. The wait time is not all day."

"There's been a huge turnaround," said County Manager Tony Petelos. "Four years ago when Cooper Green Hospital was running a $10 million deficit we had so many issues. There were problems with the doctors, the finances.

"Now, we're adding more doctors. We have more doctors now who are not reluctant to come to Cooper Green to work. And we are going to continue to get better."

Roger McCullough

McCullough came in with a game plan to reduce wait time for patients to see doctors and provide quality, affordable health services for the poor.

"One of the strategies we used was to increase the use of nurse practitioners which is now a common practice in health care," McCullough said. "We have been able to add primary care physicians. The increase in providers has allowed us to reduce that wait time and increase the number of patients we see overall."

That did not happen initially when the county downsized the hospital, closing the in-patient care unit and emergency room. Some problems seemed to stem from the lack of a plan from those on the commission who voted in favor of the new model.

Decisions were made at the county without input from healthcare experts and medical professionals. Primary care doctors left in droves. A group of local physicians called the transition "an abject failure."

The commission hired consultants and crafted plans to fix the problem, all with minimal success. Nothing appeared to work. Until McCullough settled in.

"We've gone from 17 weeks wait time when I walked in the door to about a week or two weeks," McCullough said. "We are running at full capacity with our primary care physicians. Our patient visits are up 25 percent.

"Our visits to specialty clinics are up. We have opened our psychiatric clinic. We have now opened our health and well-being clinic . . . we are expanding services and seeing the results of that with increased patients coming to the clinics."

Commission President Jimmie Stephens said the commission had to make a difficult decision to downsize the facility "regardless of political consequences" and the turnaround is "what can be accomplished when you work together and have a realistic and focused goal."

"We have dedicated employees improving the quality of life for our citizens," Stephens said. "I thank Mr. McCullough and I appreciate his engagement. The future looks bright over there because of his commitment."