Livingston Hospital gives community permanent connection to redevelopment

Livingston Hospital is giving the community a way to be permanently connected to the redevelopment of the facility.

The connection comes in the form of a steel beam and some paint pens. Simple and beautiful all at the same time. From now until Monday, the steel beam and the pens are situated next to the Livingston Hospital Foundation Community Building on the hospital campus in Salem. Anyone who would like to is invited to sign their name on the beam, which will be placed in the redeveloped hospital complex.

The original plan called for a Wednesday evening ceremony with hospital staff, the board of directors, and the community getting a first chance, but Mother Nature had other ideas. With that event cancelled due to weather, over 100 students from across Livingston County, the future the hospital is being built for, got the first opportunity to sign their names.

Livingston Hospital CEO Shane Whittington spoke about having the kids take part and said, “We want them to have quality healthcare close to home, and we want them to be part of the history of this. It’s about the community, and we want their name to be in the hospital, so when they come by, they can always say, ‘My name is in that hospital.’ And hopefully, some of them go to college, become doctors, nurses, or other professions, and they want to come back. Maybe they’ll have a tie to the hospital and come back here and work in the future.”

The funding for the redevelopment was secured through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development arm with the help of First District Congressman James Comer and USDA State Director Travis Burton. Burton called the project transformative and commended Whittington’s leadership in the process and the hospital board’s aggressive, determined work to get the funding over the finish line.

As for how many people Whittington expects to sign the beam, he said, “We’re hoping it’s full, that people have to search for a place to put their name. You know, yesterday was a bit of a letdown with the storm that came in before the official beam signing we were going to have. But it’s going to be out here til Monday, the pens are going to be here. I hope every time I look out my office window, somebody’s out there signing the beam.”

Work at the site, just off U.S. 60 on the east end of Salem, is well underway.