By Cain Madden

The Natchez Democrat

FERRIDAY — Riverland Medical Center Administrator Billy Rucker is not ready to suggest that the Concordia Parish-owned hospital is staying in Ferriday.

On Wednesday, hospital board member Al Ater said that the hospital’s future was in Ferriday — all that was left to be decided was where in town it would go.

“The board has not made a final decision,” Rucker said.

The board will meet on Feb. 23, and will be presented with the final feasibility study, which will aid in making the decision, Rucker said. The board hired Vern Kennedy of Market Research Insight to complete the study.

Ultimately, the decision falls to the Concordia Parish Police Jury. Juror Jimmy Jernigan said on Thursday that they were waiting to see what the research said.

“The parish needs a new hospital,” he said. “The biggest thing is paying for it. If they can show the revenue coming in, as far as the police jury is concerned, we will go along with what they recommend to a certain point.”

Jernigan said if the hospital is built that it would be a two- to three-year process. He did not have an opinion on where the hospital would ultimately be located, but was waiting on what the market research stated.

Ater said at Ferriday’s state of the town address that currently everyone favors rebuilding the hospital facility at its location on E.E. Wallace Boulevard. However, alternatives have been proposed such as one on the west side of town that could help attract business from Jonesville.

On Thursday morning, Ater said the committee was in favor of keeping the hospital in Ferriday.

Ater previously said that the current location and the west side of town were being considered as locations. He mentioned on Thursday that he knew of another option being explored, which is on the east side of town coming in from Vidalia.

Ater emphasized that Ferriday makes the most sense based on the data he’s seen from the MRI study. Out of approximately 21,000 total people in the county, around 17,000 of them do not live in Vidalia, he said.

Ater said the best location to serve the biggest piece of the parish is in Ferriday. Another problem the board hopes to solve at the same time is figuring out how to get a larger percent of the parish to use the hospital.

“We have to figure out why,” he said. “Is it a lack of services, doctors or the old building? We are doing research to figure that out.”

Having only been on the board since December, Ater said he couldn’t speak to any specifics of previous reports other than he wasn’t comfortable with the scientific approach used in the studies.

The board had hired Stroudwater Associates of Metairie to conduct a survey previously, and results were supposed to be presented in September. The board had commissioned a second firm, Elde Bailey, to write an opinion about the proposal only if the Stroudwater study came back with a recommendation that the hospital renovate or rebuild.

Rucker said he would not comment further until the board made its final decision.

Board chair Jim Graves could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him this week.