{"id":38814,"date":"2026-05-22T10:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=38814"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:50:11","slug":"trumps-50b-rural-health-bet-meets-a-healthcare-desert-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=38814","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s $50B Rural Health Bet Meets a Healthcare Desert in North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"


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WILLIAMSTON, N.C. \u2014 Two years after her brother\u2019s death, Debra Pierce still wonders whether the 50-year-old would have survived his heart attack if her local hospital hadn\u2019t closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sad thing is we\u2019ll never know if he could have been saved that night or not, because we don\u2019t have a higher level of care in this county,\u201d Pierce said as she stood outside the mobile home where she last hugged her brother.<\/p>\n

Emergency crews from a neighboring town worked on Stanley Sears for a half hour but couldn\u2019t revive him for the long drive to the closest hospital, records show.<\/p>\n

In the tall grass \u2014 which would be mowed if Sears were still alive \u2014 Pierce swiped through the photos on her phone. She stopped at a picture that showed Sears smiling. Pierce chuckled and then sighed: \u201cBless him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanley Sears and sister Debra Pierce at a Walmart. Sears died after a heart attack in North Carolina\u2019s Martin County the year after the 2023 closure of Martin General Hospital. (Stanley Sears)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The local hospital had closed a year before Sears\u2019 death, leaving behind a gutted healthcare system. Martin County does not have paramedics on its ambulances, and it can be 20 miles or more to the closest \u2014 and often overcrowded \u2014 emergency rooms.<\/p>\n

The healthcare gaps in Martin County illustrate the finite reach of a $50 billion rural health fund that Republicans crafted to strengthen support for President Donald Trump\u2019s signature tax and spending measure, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, last year. Though the cash has not been doled out, Republican candidates in competitive midterm elections \u2014 including the closely watched battle for the congressional district that encompasses Martin County \u2014 are casting the fund as a lifeline that will shore up critical rural health services across America.<\/p>\n

The money has been highly anticipated in North Carolina, where most residents live in rural counties. Pierce, a Republican who blames county officials for the hospital closure, said she has faith Trump will help them. \u201cOld man\u2019s doing his job up in there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On paper, Martin County \u2014 home to about 22,000 people \u2014 looks like a top contender to receive at least some of the $213 million that\u2019s been earmarked for North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Yet County Manager Drew Batts said it won\u2019t be the answer for his residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe $50 billion is not something that is specifically going to help our situation,\u201d Batts said as he walked into the shuttered hospital in April. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to help us get this place reopened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin County won\u2019t get direct relief from Trump\u2019s rural health fund \u2014 because its hospital isn\u2019t open. North Carolina is distributing the money among existing health and social service organizations. Plus, federal regulators set limits<\/a> on how much can be spent on construction and building renovations.<\/p>\n

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Martin County Manager Drew Batts stands inside the shuttered Martin General Hospital in Williamston, North Carolina, and points to a picture of his wife, who worked there as operating room nurse manager. (Sarah Jane Tribble\/KFF Health News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018We Can Only Pray\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Martin General Hospital closed abruptly in 2023, surprising employees and shocking patients, who had to be wheeled out on stretchers and transported elsewhere to finish treatment. The closure even stunned local elected leaders, who say the company operating the county-owned hospital, Quorum Health, did not notify them it intended to shut down operations and file for bankruptcy. Quorum spokesperson Lisa Anderson said the company had told county commissioners of the hospital\u2019s ongoing financial challenges.<\/p>\n

Politicians have spent the years since trying to reopen the hospital, with county taxpayers pouring an estimated $2.9 million into maintenance, utilities, and other costs in the hopes of resuming operations, Batts said.<\/p>\n

The county is now considering spending at least $1.5 million, he said, to create two higher-level paramedic units with quick-response vehicles, specially equipped with electrocardiogram equipment or other \u201cadvanced lifesaving support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pierce said she is praying the county can add paramedics and reopen the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some answered prayers happening every day,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, we can only pray and hope, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Debra Pierce holds up a picture of Stanley Sears, her brother, while standing in the yard of the mobile home he was renovating before his death in 2024. Pierce believes North Carolina\u2019s Martin County needs higher-level emergency services and a hospital. (Sarah Jane Tribble\/KFF Health News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018They Just Want To Not Die\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

With its nine hospitals, the region\u2019s largest health system is ECU Health, connected to East Carolina University. The system has become a de facto safety net for 29 counties. Batts and Brian Floyd, the Greenville-based system\u2019s chief operating officer, have lobbied state and federal lawmakers, walking them through the shuttered hospital and asking for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real healthcare crisis that has already proven itself to have lost lives that perhaps didn\u2019t have to be lost,\u201d Floyd said. \u201cThey just want to not die because there\u2019s nowhere to go when you have an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eleisa Ann Evans drove 2\u00bd hours from a small town near the Outer Banks on a recent evening so her aunt could get care at an ECU Health ER in Greenville. Once there, Evans said, staff told her to leave her 79-year-old aunt in the waiting room and wait outside because of capacity issues.<\/p>\n

Evans said she was outraged at the way the staff treated her. She said she had been standing behind her aunt\u2019s wheelchair while inside and \u201cwasn\u2019t using nobody\u2019s chair.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Martin General gone, all the surrounding counties are \u201calso in jeopardy,\u201d Floyd said. \u201cNo one knows what to do\u201d with that large of a healthcare \u201cdesert,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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