CELINA-Cumberland River Hospital (CRH) will take the first step towards reopening here on Friday with the debut of a new clinic.

This move signaling an end to a nearly eight-month local healthcare hiatus comes after the hospital’s doors were shuttered last spring by Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC)—which owned and operated CRH as a subsidiary since 2012 and recently sold the iconic healthcare facility for $200,000 to Johnny Presley and Rural Hospital & Clinics of America, LLC.

Recent media reports from multiple area news outlets announced CRH’s plans to resume operations with the opening of a clinic featuring 13 exam rooms this week.

“November the 15, we will open our hospital clinic. We will ramp up and let the physicians and community bond towards the end of November and December,” a newstalk941.com story quoted new CRH administrator Don Downey saying. “So everything is ready to go, but the emergency room and all services will be available January 1.”

Cookeville’s Herald Citizen newspaper also reported the news and quoted Presley in their article.

“The clinic will be opening November 15 with the hospital having a tentative open on January 1, 2020, assuming everything goes fine,” Presley said in the herald-citizen.com story. “Maybe a little quicker, but it all depends on Medicare.”

For both complete stories, visit newstalk941.com and herald-citizen.com.