Hope is a powerful tool. It forces through all sorts of things, especially good ideas.

Hope is about the only thing that’s kept the doors of the delivery room at Bryan W. Whitfield Hospital open and it looks like that will play a key role in keeping them open permanently.

Friday, a board charged with finding a way to save the department appears to have done just that. They arrived at a cooperative partnership between several entities that could buy the labor and delivery unit enough time that revenue initiatives may help offset the loss over the next 12 months.

This plan is far from a done deal but that all parties are open to discuss it, and that all parties have bought into the idea is a huge step in finding a solution. The clock is ticking on time to find a way to make labor and delivery work but, in our judgement, the last three weeks have been time well spent in that process.