FERRIDAY — A Riverland Medical Center board member vowed to the Ferriday Town Council Tuesday he would fight any attempt to move the hospital from Ferriday.

RMC board member Fred Butcher addressed the board of aldermen at their request to update them about the hospital’s plans for the future — which, he said, are in no way set.

He also said possible dialogues about the hospital moving in which all parties are not involved may have happened. The board has not authorized any statements about the hospital’s future, he said.

Butcher said a consultant with the Rural Hospitals Coalition addressed the hospital board in October, telling them they could add up to 20 percent in business by moving to Vidalia.

Butcher said he could not recall the consultant’s name, but he had been invited to the meeting by the hospital administration.

“I opposed it then, and I oppose it now,” he said.

“You cannot move everything to one area of the parish and think you have a Utopia.”

Butcher said he made a motion for the hospital to commission a feasibility study about the matter after hearing the consultant speak. He said he does not believe Riverland would be able to cut into the Natchez healthcare market.

“People don’t change doctors very often,” he said. “You get one doctor and you have faith in that doctor. Even if you change the location of the hospital, if people don’t change doctors, it won’t cut into the market. People in Vidalia basically use doctors in Natchez, and changing the location of Riverland and moving to Vidalia is not going to change that.”

Butcher likewise said he thinks the health care needs of some residents will be disenfranchised if the hospital is moved.

“Some people have trouble getting from the lower end of Ferriday to Riverland,” he said. “How will they get there when it is not in Ferriday?

“If it ever gets to that point and comes to a vote, I will vote against it.”

Butcher, who has been on the board for 24 years, said he believes something needs to be done to improve Riverland for the future, but the hospital already owns 25 acres in Ferriday on which it can be done.

Hospital administrators said a study commissioned in the fall was not sufficient to make a decision, and they will seek a second study.

Butcher said two firms have made presentations to the hospital board in executive session, but no party has been hired to conduct the study.

“Whatever plan we decide on, we should work with the police jury first because we work under their umbrella,” he said.

Hospital board member Rena Pitts was also present, and said while no decision has been made, the only thing the board desires is ensuring the best medical services for the area it can.

“The board is driving to keep our hospital, keep our employees, keep our medical facilities and get additional doctors,” she said. “There is a constant search to get additional doctors to come to the area. Without the doctors, we won’t need a hospital.”

Butcher said the board would also instruct the hospital’s administrative staff not to have further conversations about the matter outside official channels, even at an informal lunch or on the golf course.

Ferriday resident Don W. Ater was in attendance at the meeting and asked the aldermen to pass a resolution supporting openness in the hospital process as it moves forward, saying he felt it had been rushed by a “manufactured panic by outside sources pressing for a venue.”

“I think we all need to step back and soak in the sunshine, because as we all know the sunshine tends to purify,” he said.

The town board did not take official action regarding the matter, but expressed its desire for the hospital to remain in Ferriday. Mayor Gene Allen likewise said he would like for the hospital to seek to re-establish an OB-GYN practice in Ferriday.