March 23, 2017 – Sandra Little Brown called Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting at Cahaba Medical Center “a crying moment.”

The District 7 Jefferson County Commission member said she had to defend herself against false claims that she had voted to end in-patient care at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital.

“We went through so much stress with the closing of in-patient care at Cooper Green,” Brown said during today’s commission meeting.

“Now the people can say, ‘They took lemons and made lemonade.’”

Brown said she has worked since in-patient care at Cooper Green ended to create a hub-and-spoke system to bring healthcare closer to where many people live.

“Send the healthcare to the people in the community,” she said. “You’ve got a headache? You don’t have to go to the emergency room. Walk down to the clinic.”

The new clinic at 1308 Tuscaloosa Avenue in West End is the first of three spokes in the healthcare wheel. Others are planned for Sandusky and Center Point.

“It’s not an easy process,” Brown said. “We have to partner with good healthcare providers, with a record of being good healthcare providers. We’re working with Alethea House and we’re working with Bessemer to put (another) one in Bessemer.”

Thursday’s 1 p.m. commission meeting lasted only 10 minutes, with commissioners passing 36 resolutions by unanimous consent. Among those were:

• Setting a 20 mph speed limit on Griffin Valley Lane from Lakeside Drive to its end in the Rock Mountain Lake community.
• Providing community grant agreements of $2,500 apiece for Aldridge Gardens, the American Cancer Society, Jimmie Hale Mission and Prescott House Child Advocacy Center.
• Providing an $8,000 grant to the Vulcan Park Foundation, with $2,000 apiece coming from commissioners Jimmie Stephens, Joe Knight and David Carrington’s budgets, $1,500 from Commissioner George Bowman’s and $500 from Brown’s.
• Providing a $6,500 grant to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, with $2,500 coming from Carrington and $2,000 apiece from Stephens and Knight.Read more Jefferson County Commission coverage:Jeffco Commissioners Looking Forward to Refinancing School Bonds

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