NEWS
Faith Community Bowie ER to close Oct. 6
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
Just about a month shy of celebrating its one-year anniversary, Faith Community Emergency Room in Bowie will be closing as of 7 a.m. on Oct. 6.
Frank L. Beaman, chief executive officer of Faith Community Health System, confirmed the closure to The Bowie News through a statement on Monday. Several employees of the ER had already contacted the Bowie News about the closure.
In the statement Beaman said the evaluations of productivity, utilization and economics of the facility and comparing the actual data again projections revealed, “The facility is not meeting the projections required to maintain operations.”
It continues the goal was to provide Level IV trauma emergency care, and that endeavor was successful with positive feedback. However, the utilization and referrals to Faith Community Health System’s main campus did not materialize. Faith also attempted to convert the facility under a new federal designation known as Rural Emergency Hospital, but the attempts were unsuccessful due to the way the legislation was written. It only allowed for conversion of an existing acute care hospital and does not provide for designation of a new ER like what was opened in Bowie. This eliminated any federal funding.
“Operating what effectively is a free-standing ER is simply not sustainable without a greater level of financial support from the community,” stated Beaman.
The ER’s grand opening took place on Oct. 23, 2023 after more than two years of work remodeling and repairing the old hospital. In mid-August 2021 Faith Community Health System officials announced its intentions to open the ER as an arm of its Jacksboro facility.
Bowie had been without any local hospital or ER care since early 2020 when Central Hospital closed. The nearest ER care came at Nocona General Hospital during that period. The fully operational Bowie Memorial Hospital closed on Nov. 16, 2015 after nearly 50 years of service to the area.
Read more about this closure in the Wednesday Bowie News.
Photo – Grand opening day tours of the Bowie ER last October. (Bowie News file photo)
Members of the Bowie City Council will face a brief agenda when they meet at 6 p.m. on Oct. 13 in the council chambers.
Following routine reports and consent agenda items, the council will consider a resolution authorizing submission of the city’s 2027/2028 Texas Community Development Block Grant application to the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Then council members will consider approving Bob Blackburn for appointment as a reserve police officer with the Bowie Police Department.
Following an executive session, the council will discuss and potentially take action regarding the annual employment evaluations and duties of both the City Secretary and the Municipal Court Judge.
After nearly three months of no rain, Mother Nature brought the showers this past week.
Downtown Bowie rain reports varied from 7 to 8 inches, while the Saint Jo area reported a 10-inch total. The city water plant in Bowie reported 5.55 inches on Sept. 30 with 1.6 Oct. 1-3.
Nocona saw a total of 6.31 inches of rain across Sept. 26 to Oct. 3.
On Oct. 6, Lake Amon G. Carter saw a level of 917.39 mean sea level rising to 81.31% full. Just one week earlier the lake was 73.6% full, while one year ago it was 94.01%. The lake is full at 920msl.
Lake Nocona was 73.7% full at 823.02 on Oct 6. One week earlier it was 70.41% full and one year ago it was 92.41%. The lake is full at 827.5 msl.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
One Montague County City has joined the battle against any data centers being built in this county and there is a petition drive underway to urge the commissioner’s court to keep data centers out of Montague County.
At a Sept. 28 called meeting of the Saint Jo City Council, officials unanimously approved a resolution stating its opposition to the “siting, permitting, construction or operation of data centers and similar hyperscale computing facilities within the city limits or the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.”
City Secretary Debbie Dennis said several citizens approached Councilor Jack Dunn about their data center concerns and he helped prepare a resolution. The council gave unanimous support.
Read the full story in your Thursday Bowie News.
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