Study Hall Member Lisa Bubert Reported On The Closure of La Grange’s Only Hospital

For Texas Monthly, Lisa Bubert reported on how the “rural Texas health-care crisis” has impacted the only hospital in La Grange, Texas and how  “the property’s fate will be left up to an auction later this month, and concerned residents of La Grange can do nothing but wait and hope.” 

Bubert told Study Hall about the backstory behind her article: “In February 2023, the rural hospital my mother worked at for over 30 years laid off 40% of its employees (including my mother) in order to stay solvent. It didn’t take and they closed six months later in October 2023 for good. This was a heartbreaking development for our family and the community and the story behind what happened to cause the closure was confusing and convoluted. Blame and suspicion abounded, everyone pointing fingers at the board, hospital admin, the community, the staff. (Not enough blame pointed at the state of Texas and its conservative policies IMO, but I digress.) I wanted to set the record straight.” 

 “In short, reporting the story of St. Mark’s Medical Center would be an excellent exercise of research. I truly started my interviews thinking I would just do this for research, that I wouldn’t actually pitch the piece anywhere,” she says. “But then I interviewed a nurse, then a board member, and then a community member, all of whom had such compelling and emotional narratives, I couldn’t look away.” 

Bubert’s writing has appeared in Los Angeles Review, Longreads, and The Rumpus