Cheyenne Regional Medical Center won't be closing the doors on its Transitional Care Unit anytime soon.

Laramie County Commissioners, Tuesday afternoon, failed to approve a resolution that would have allowed the hospital to discontinue transitional care services.

"I was on the fence post both ways with this," said Commissioner Ron Kailey. "I just did not like being backdoored in. There was no way to re-establish the TCU if we wanted to bring it back."

Commissioner Troy Thompson, who's been a commissioner liaison to the CRMC Board of Trustees for the past year, voted to close the Transitional Care Unit.  He says the hospital lost around $800,000 on the unit last year and will likely lose at least $500,000 this year.

"If you have a unit like this that is losing money and you've got three different companies within the community that provide the same care, I think it was wise for our board to make that decision," said Thompson. "The board and the administration are now tasked with finding a way to make up for those loses."

"We just got so many emails of different people and phone calls of citizens that had no skin in the game that said, 'Please leave it open, it isn't all about money,'" said Kailey. "As a businessman I think the hospital board made the correct decision and brought it back to us. Unfortunately, I just could not swallow that we couldn't go back."

Commissioners Amber Ash and Linda Heath also voted to keep the Transitional Care Unit open.

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