The Town of Waynesville and Haywood County both got a spot of good news last week when it was announced that the building that was originally the county’s hospital would advance to the next stage in potential redevelopment. 

Like the region’s opioid crisis, if Western North Carolina’s affordable housing crisis could have been solved by meetings, panel discussions or task force recommendations, it would have been over long ago. 

But last week, the town of Waynesville finally became the first Haywood County government to take concrete steps that could rid the county of a troublesome, underutilized asset — or liability, as some have called it — while at the same time transforming a blighted area just north of downtown into a vibrant, rejuvenated economic center. 

After a minor delay due to the concerns of a newly-elected commissioner, Haywood County has again decided to move forward with the redevelopment of the Historic Haywood Hospital by granting Landmark Services a purchase option on the property, but the looming issue of what to do with its current occupants remains unresolved. 

An ongoing effort to qualify for tax credits that would make redevelopment of the county-owned Historic Haywood County Hospital more financially attractive to developers will have some extra heft behind it if a series of Waynesville public hearings meets with board approval.

Franklin Town Council members decided to hold off on providing input to the attorney general regarding HCA Healthcare’s impending $1.5 billion purchase of Mission Health until the board can agree on what it wants to say.

The next chapter in the saga of the historic Haywood Hospital is about to be written, but in the choose-your-own-adventure format of the existing saga, the happy ending of the county’s quest to unload the expensive, underutilized parcel has yet to be written.

A years-long effort to find some use for the Historic Haywood County Hospital on Waynesville’s North Main Street appears to be moving forward with renewed vigor, as the building continues to deteriorate.

Mission Hospital’s decision to let its contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield expire has resulted in increased business for Harris Regional Hospital, with patient admissions this October up about 20 percent over numbers from October 2016.

Swain Community Hospital is still trying to overcome misperceptions in the community regarding its recent emergency department changes as well as the local medical services available to residents. 

According to a recent ranking from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority is one of the nation’s worst-performing hospitals when it comes to rates of patients who acquire infections while staying in the hospital.