Pineville Mayor Scott Madon gave the public an update on the latest rumors surrounding Pineville Community Hospital during the Pineville City Council meeting on Monday.

“When the city got involved in this, PCH was already turned over to bankruptcy,” he explained. “They were already in the process and what we did was step in to keep it from completely closing.”

Madon’s response was to Brian O’Brien, of The Big 106.3, asking about the last rumors being posted and shared throughout social media regarding the sale of the hospital.

“This is something that you announced within minutes of standing on the steps when the city took over,” O’Brien stated.

Madon agreed.

“I know that kind of confused people with how that hit,” Madon said. “We anticipated that going in, and it was already there. It wasn’t a big shocker for me, but I understand that people don’t completely understand.”

He continued to explain that through the help of the council, the emergency room has maintained daily operations.

“One thing that I have told the council at the last meeting, there is no doubt that we have saved lives,” Madon reiterated. “I mean, most weeks they are averaging 100 plus folks through the emergency room and we are paying for that.”

He explained to keep the emergency room operational and accepting patients the cost is $5,000 per day.

“When people say where is your money going that is one thing that I can tell you right off the bat. We pay $5,000 a day to keep the emergency room open,” Madon said.

The mayor said that he is very optimistic.

“There are at least 24 individuals that have expressed interest in purchasing the hospital or the hospital properties,” he continued to explain. “From my understanding, there are five serious hospital buyers for the hospital.”

He wanted to explain that if nobody buys the hospital, that he has remained in discussions with First State Bank and Kentucky Highlands.

“They would like to see us continue to operate until they can get it sold if it doesn’t sell this round,” he said. “Everything is moving along and it’s positive.”

He said they are going to get the facility cleaned up, and they plan to start doing work on the outside this week with painting in the parking lots.

“We are slowly moving forward,” Madon said. “I’ve adopted a slogan for the hospital, ‘PCH Strong: One Day at a Time’ and that’s kind of what we are living by. We are trying to survive one day at a time to get it rebuilt.”

He said the enthusiasm from the people in the community is very positive.

“We have been contacted by people about wanting to work for the hospital,” he said. “People that can make a real serious difference.”

The Pineville City Council is expected to hold an executive session in regards to the Pineville Community Hospital on Wednesday.