THOMASVILLE — Archbold Memorial Hospital has notified the Early County Hospital Authority that it will end its agreement to manage Early Memorial Hospital and Early Memorial Nursing Home.

Ongoing “financial and operational challenges” at the Blakely facilities were cited by Archbold as reasons for ending the agreement.

The 40-year agreement, which ends Sept. 30, was entered in January 1995, according to the Early County News.

The Blakely newspaper also reported that the agreement was entered with the county and hospital authority when Early Memorial, like many other rural hospitals, were facing financial crises.

Blakely, 80 miles northwest of Thomasville and near the Alabama state line, has a population of 6,500.

Richard “Buck” Grist, Early County Hospital Authority chairman, told the Times-Enterprise the hospital and nursing home will remain open. “We’re just changing management,” he explained.

The authority will hire a consultant to help in the process of securing new management.

“We’re talking to different (management) prospects,” Grist explained.

The authority, which has been contacted by prospects, is making contacts, as well.

Grist said Perry Mustian, Archbold Medical Center president and chef executive officer, and Kevin Taylor, Archbold chief operations officer, presented him with a letter of termination at 11 a.m. Monday.

“It was a a shock when it came, but people have calmed off now,” said Grist, owner of a Blakely oil distributorship.

The 109 employees at the nursing home and 71 employed at the hospital are paid by Archbold.

The hospital has 25 beds, while the nursing home has 127.

“The distance from our main operation in Thomasville also makes it difficult to provide effective operational and management support,” Mustian said in a press release. “These factors, along with historical underutilization of services and the availability of advanced specialty care in nearby Alabama all led to the conclusion that it was no longer practical for Archbold to continue managing facilities in Early County.”

Information about how much money the Blakely facilities were losing was not available from Archbold. Neither were hospital and nursing home budget figures.