HJAR Jul/Aug 2019

dialogue 12 JUL / AUG 2019 I  Healthcare Journal of ARKANSAS   Chief Editor Smith W. Hartley Can you tell us about the population of El Dorado? Scott Street The population today is right at 20,000, and it has stayed the same for a number of years. Of course, El Dorado was much bigger decades ago, back in the oil boom and so forth. There is some growth in El Dorado and in this area, Union County, with a number of employers just as of the last few years. Murphy Oil and Murphy USA are a big part of that re-growth and resurgence, and a lot of different activities organizations that had a lot of subspecial- ties we don’t have today, so out migration over the last few decades has really hurt healthcare in South Arkansas. However, what we’re doing here in the last year and a half is turning that back around and stop- ping a lot of the out migration that did occur in past years by bringing new specialties, services, and subspecialists toMedical Cen- ter of South Arkansas, to again, try to help those that are having to travel for services not have to travel. in South Arkansas, so we really are appre- ciative of both those companies, and oth- ers as well. Editor Have you noticed a migration in healthcare? Are people leaving El Dorado to go other places, and are others coming into El Dorado? Street  I’d say a number of years ago, in fact a few decades ago, there were two thriving hospitals here in El Dorado—the old War- ner Brown and Union hospitals were two “…what we’re doing here in the last year and a half is turning that back around and stopping a lot of the out migration that did occur in past years by bringing new specialties, services, and subspecialists to Medical Center of South Arkansas, to again, try to help those that are having to travel for services not have to travel.”