Before noon today a long and important chapter in Natchez’s history will close with the anticipated sale of Natchez Regional Medical Center.

Barring some unforeseen event, the beleaguered, county-owned hospital will be sold today to the parent company of Natchez Community Hospital.

The future of the physical building in which thousands of local people have experienced some of life’s highest highs and lowest lows remains uncertain, as is the fate of its hundreds of employees, almost certainly some of whom will be cut as the two hospitals merge into one.

The sale is both a sad day for the county as well as a blessing, in a strange way, for county taxpayers.

The sale is sad because it probably didn’t have to happen, had the hospital’s leadership not made horrible management decisions in the past — decisions that apparently were condoned by the hospital’s board.

The sale is also a blessing since the hospital had been allowed to burn through so much cash that the sale at least stops further bleeding of public money. The county will have to actually borrow millions of dollars just to make the sale possible.

In the last two years Natchez Regional has burned through millions and millions of dollars — much of it needlessly.

At this point, perhaps, none of that matters, beyond learning the lesson that valuable public assets must be treated as critically important or they can be squandered quickly.

Soon, Natchez will become a one-hospital town and that ultimately should provide benefits to the community’s long-term healthcare.

We hope and pray that to be the case.