Dear editor:

Last week, while eating a sandwich at my home, I lost sight in the top left portion of my right eye, and it was replaced by blackness. Immediately, I recognized that this was not normal; I needed to react.

Emergency room came to mind, but we do not have one. So, my options were to ask my wife to drive me to Alabaster or I call for an ambulance. Both of these would take time and cost money. I took two aspirin and hoped for the best.

For a city with 8,600-plus people (and growing) to not have a hospital with an emergency room is inexcusable. I know that hospitals are closing all across America because of the law signed by former president Rondald Reagan that said a hospital could not refuse to care for someone even if they had no means to pay. And it is a shame that we needed a law to force us to care for someone that was ill.

But for hospitals to survive they must charge outrageous prices while you are a patient in the hospital. More patients make a hospital more profitable. Clanton may not have had a lot of patients but may have had a lot of emergency room people who could not pay.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare law, was passed to help more people have insurance. This means more people can pay for their medical care with their new insurance whether they need doctor visits or emergency care.

I believe Clanton can support a hospital. I believe we cannot afford not to have a hospital if we want the city to exist or to grow.

I had a transient stroke or TIA (for the medical folks). Transient Ischemic Attack is a “warning stroke.” Minutes matter in medical care. Clanton deserves a hospital to help protect the people.

Charles Powell, Clanton