El Dorado city officials recently heard about upcoming plans for Medical Center of South Arkansas, including the reopening of a portion of a city street to improve access to the hospital, particularly for emergency vehicles.
Scott Street, chief executive officer of Medical Center of South Arkansas, visited with the El Dorado City Council earlier this month and discussed plans for expansion and ongoing improvements for the MCSA campus.
Street noted that the hospital property is owned by Union County and he has been working with county Judge Mike Loftin — with assistance from the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce — on a project to even out the driving surfaces on hospital grounds to help make ambulance rides smoother.
Each of the hospital’s parking lots will also be resurfaced in a partnership with the county, he said.
Another area of focus, Street told council members, is cleaning up and beautifying parts of the surrounding area and creating more of a presence for MCSA off North West Avenue.
Of particular focus is Lester Street, he said.
“… Fifth Street is difficult to navigate from an ambulance standpoint. You know that intersection there and if you’re coming north to south, as I would say, to kind of enter the intersection, to turn right is kind of hard for ambulances and it’s becoming more difficult,” Street said.
He noted that Lester runs directly up to a fence that runs along the east side of the MCSA campus.
“We would rather have it to be smooth than the current Fifth Street that the ambulances come down now,” he said.
Fifth Street intersects with the hospital’s north entrances, which lead to the Emergency Room.
MCSA erected the fence years ago, citing safety reasons at the time, and sealed off access onto the campus from Lester Street.
“So … you’re telling me you’re going to ‘un-fence’ it?” Council Member Willie McGhee asked.
“That is correct,” Street said.
“I’m glad you mentioned Fifth Street,” Council Member Billy Blann said later, adding that he had recently spoken to Robert Edmonds, director of public works, about heavily trafficked streets in El Dorado that need to be widened.
“Where can we get the money to widen Fifth? That is the worst street we’ve got for those ambulances to get in and out of from North West Avenue to your ambulance entrance,” Blann said.
“And I appreciate starting that conversation because we need to do something. You can’t just overlay it. It needs to be widened,” he continued. “I would encourage the mayor and the council to pursue that, and I know it’s going to take money, so I’ve got a couple of ideas on that.”
Street, who said he has also spoken to Edmonds and Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer, said initial conversations included potential costs and the time it would take to widen Fifth, adding that talks swiftly turned toward Lester as an option.
“If you look at Lester, it’s much wider and it’s easy access,” Street said.
Blann said Lester was improved to serve as an entrance for the MCSA campus when it was built nearly six decades ago.
Council Member Dianne Hammond asked Street what changes he anticipates with opening up Lester as another ambulance route to MCSA.
“You know, first, I think it’s just making sure we don’t step on any inappropriate landmines with making that an entrance because ambulances, with sirens running, will be coming down that road,” he said.
Street also said he was not sure of the protocol of notifying residents along Lester Street of the hospital’s plans.
“I’ll yield to Robert Edmonds and others to walk me through that process. I’ll be the bad guy to say this is what we need to do and why,” he said.
Hammond suggested that Street meet with the St. Louis Neighborhood Restoration Committee. The group focuses on improvements for the neighborhood, part of which borders the east side of MCSA.
Hammond noted that one of the group’s leaders, Janis Van Hook, was in the audience. Van Hook is also president of Keep El Dorado Beautiful.
Street asked the city for assistance in removing houses in the area that have been burned and to begin the process of removing abandoned houses from the area, adding that MCSA is looking to purchase some of the properties.
He said MCSA is working to expand its medical services and is aggressively recruiting candidates to fill more than a dozen positions for several subspecialties that are no longer available in El Dorado.
The hospital is also looking to build a full-service cancer treatment center and has arranged for an on-site medical helicopter.
MCSA is also readying for the return of the Area Health Education Center, which moved to Magnolia a few years ago, to El Dorado in 2020, with the first residency class expected in 2021.
He said the hospital is looking at reviving the old Warner Brown campus, possibly with a comprehensive mental health services program.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].