Approximately 90 days ago, Jellico Alderman Joe Creekmore sent the first e-mail to BradenHealth, a mission-driven rural hospital operator, about possibly taking over the former Jellico Hospital facility, which had been closed since March 2024.
On Friday, BradenHealth and Jellico officials held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate.
“If you are here today and you have ever prayed for this moment … God is not deaf to hear us. The Bible says, ‘He is a very present help in the time of trouble.’ He heard those prayers and he makes a way when there seems to be no way,” Creekmore told the crowd gathered for Friday’s groundbreaking. “It is a historic day for us. I pray they are blessed and prosper.”
Next year, BradenHealth officials hope to reopen the facility as the North Campbell Community Hospital.
While many area residents would like to see the hospital reopen tomorrow, BradenHealth officials said getting the facility reopened next year is an extraordinarily fast process compared to the usual time frame.
Kyle Kopec, co-founder, Chief Compliance Officer, and Vice President of Government Affairs at BradenHealth, noted the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission “really moved a mountain for your community,” by helping to push through the regulatory requirements needed to get the hospital reopened.
He specifically singled out Tennessee Health Facilities Commission Executive Director Logan Grant, Director of Licensure and Regulation Caroline Tippens, high-ranking Washington, D.C., officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and an official at the White House, who “moved a few mountains” to get the hospital’s certificate of need restored. This is normally an 18-24 month process.
“Their work accelerates our ability to provide healthcare services to you, but what that also means is the work here has already started. Folks have been hard at work to begin to restore this hospital to full compliance,” Kopec said.
“We are really grateful. The state regulators helped us out. The state really did something that is very difficult to do. It is a very bureaucratic process that frankly is so challenging most states won’t even try it.”
Currently, the hospital is targeting an opening date in 2027, “hopefully” in the first or second quarter of the year, Kopec said.
“Thank you to everyone in the community, who has really given us an opportunity to go fast. We didn’t have to tear everything down. The regulators are helping us out,” added BradenHealth CEO and founder Dr. Beau Braden.
“We are waiting on equipment, but, again, without your guys’ help taking care of everything, this would not have been possible. Thank you very much,” he told Jellico officials Friday.
