NATCHEZ — “We want you to be our cheerleaders.”

That was the collective message more than 50 Natchez Regional Medical Center staff members delivered Wednesday to Adams County supervisors.

The goal was to inform supervisors of the county hospital’s progress ahead of further discussions to potentially sell the facility.

The meeting came less than 24 hours after supervisors voted to hear interest from a broker working on behalf of Health Management Associates, the Naples, Fla.-based company that owns Natchez Community Hospital.

Natchez Regional employees outlined a list of more than 15 new programs, news and initiatives that NRMC has begun in the last couple of months, almost all of which, they said, would generate new revenue for the hospital.

Key on that list was the recent recruitment of four new full-time physicians to the area since August 2009, said Christina Hall, R.N., vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer.

“We are guilty of not tooting our own horn and that’s our fault,” Hall said, adding that the four new physicians is an amazing feat. “That’s a big deal. It’s a very big deal.”

Dr. Hendrik Kuiper, one of the four new physicians, moved to Natchez in January and has already made a big impact on the number of surgeries the hospital is performing, Hall said.

“More importantly, he has taken on some of the extra (on) call (time) that was not being covered,” she said. “Which means, we have surgery coverage at night. When you’re children have a wreck, we don’t have to send them out of town.

“When the little girl got cut by the barbed wire, she didn’t have to leave town. When the appendectomy came in this weekend, they didn’t get shipped out of town.

“We’re doing much more surgery as the surgery crew here can attest to, and we’re doing more and bigger cases and we’re not sending them out of town.”

For his part, Kuiper said the hospital is poised for greatness and that he would be concerned over a merger.

“You’ve got a great hospital here, good staff, great staff, loyal staff,” he said. “I was very much involved with the merger of two hospitals (in Vicksburg).

“What we lost, the effect on the community, has been a negative one,” he said. “You’ve got a great potential to rise out of the difficulties this hospital has had.”

In addition to Kuiper, a new pathologist and a new radiologist have also been hired and are improving hospital services, Hall said.

But perhaps most touted, a new cardiologist will arrive in April along with a new contract with Jackson Heart Clinic, which is affiliated with St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson. The agreement was signed on Tuesday.

“Dr. Brad LeMay will move to Natchez with his family,” Hall said.

Natchez Regional has plans to reopen its heart catheterization lab, which was closed more than a year ago.

That requires NRMC to reapply for its state-mandated Certificate of Need. Natchez Community filed a competing CON on Jan. 28. Hall said Jackson Heart has written letters to the state in support of Regional’s plans.

“(Natchez Community doesn’t) have the equipment, and they don’t have the room to put it,” Hall said. “There is not enough good I can say about Jackson Heart.”

Hall asked those present to raise their hands if Jackson Heart Clinic had treated them or a member of their family. More than a dozen raised their hands.

“Jackson Heart is a premier cardiology group. You cannot question Jackson Heart,” Hall said. “They don’t go anywhere or do anything where they’re not first-rate.

“This many patients already go there and will now not have to travel,” Hall said. “We’ll have more cardiology coverage in Natchez.”

“On weeks that (LeMay is) on vacation, they’ll send a cardiologist here so we’ll never be without one,” Dr. Kenneth Stubbs said.

He said the hospital’s administration understands that you “can’t have a mission without margin.”

“We understand that,” he said. “If you can’t generate the patients, this hospital will lose money. The steps here are just the start.”

Stubbs said the issue boils down to consistent patient counts.

“At 50 patients a day, we break even. If we get to 60 patients, we start making gobs of money,” he said. “A very positive statement would go a long way to push two, three or four patients (to the hospital) and could make a huge difference.

“We need positive support,” Stubbs said.

Hall said the Tuesday census, counting everyone in a bed, was at 81.

Many of the workers expressed concern, not specifically over the idea of selling the hospital, but fears of what would happen if the hospital were sold to Health Management Associates.

“You haven’t heard an employee in this room speak badly about employees at that hospital (Natchez Community Hospital),” Hall said. “We are not here to talk bad about them, but we do have an issue with HMA.”

Specifically, Hall said many of the hospital’s employees feel that HMA is simply seeking to grab the hospital now at a bargain price before all of the new changes Natchez Regional has under way begin to take hold and start making an impact to them.

“If they showed up, they smelled money,” said Dr. Rusty Scara, an anesthesiologist. “All they are interested in is the bottom line.”

Hall asked the supervisors if the letter of discussion supervisors signed on Tuesday included a possible sales price.

Supervisor Henry Watts said that it did.

“They’re going to try to get this hospital before the price goes ups,” Hall said. “Y’all should take that price, wrap it around their neck and pull it tight.”

“We’re not necessarily opposed to a sale,” she said. “But you might can get more for us. We will help you sell us to somebody who will care about our community. We’ll help you do that, if you won’t settle.”

Supervisors mostly listened and all expressed surprise at the hospital’s recent progress.

Supervisor Thomas “Boo” Campbell said the board has always taken the stand of listening to anyone who sought an audience with them and that’s what they’d done in regard to the hospital broker’s request. Tuesday’s vote to discuss the matter was 4-1, with Supervisor Darryl Grennell as the lone opposing vote.

“There was no rush, we definitely didn’t want to alarm anybody,” Campbell said. “There has never been a desire on my part to sell the hospital.”

Supervisor Mike Lazarus said he is interested in getting more information before making any decision.

“The last thing I want to do is sell this hospital. I’ve said, ‘Give me a reason not to sell this hospital. Show me.’ I’m tired of rumors,” he said.

Watts said neither he nor the board as a whole has ever sought to sell the hospital.

“It has never been suggested by the board of supervisors to sell this hospital. It was suggested by Mr. Scott Phillips,” Watts said.

Phillips’ company Health Management Partners LLC was hired by the hospital in 2009 to manage the hospital and reorganize it. HMP attempted to sell the hospital just before putting it into bankruptcy, but was unable to secure a buyer.

Watts said that, like Lazarus, he was interested in learning the real financial situation of the hospital and hoped to get those numbers soon.

Several in the room placed the lack of clear information on the hospital’s board of trustees.

“We should be the cheerleaders,” Watts said. “But the real cheerleaders should be the (hospital) board of trustees.

“I, for one, am interested in firing all of them, today. All of them need to go,” he said.

Supervisors plan to formally meet with the hospital’s financial administrators in the next several days.