FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: Margaret Wicker
February 26 , 2007	(202)224-6414

WASHINGTON, DC – The Federal government issued a commitment to insure a $34.8 million mortgage loan for the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Miss. Senator Thad Cochran announced today.  The mortgage, insured by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be used to refinance previous expansion by the medical center and to further expand the center’s capabilities.  The expansions will serve as foundations for improvement of the health of citizens and communities in the Delta Region of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

"I am pleased that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has made such a substantial commitment to the Delta Regional Medical Center,” Senator Cochran said.  “As the only Level 2 trauma center in the Delta, this facility is essential to the region’s citizens.  The expansion of the cardiovascular unit’s open-heart surgery capabilities will prove invaluable in a region so ravaged by heart disease.”

HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner, Brian D. Montgomery said: “HUD mortgage insurance will save Delta Regional Medical Center approximately $6.1million in interest payments over the life of the loan.  In addition to providing improved medical care, the project will help stimulate the local economy by generating an estimated 60 to 80 additional construction jobs.”

Details on the assistance is as follows:  $21 million to refinance the acquisition of King’s Daughter’s Hospital; $4.22 million to convert center’s burn unit into a cardiovascular unit; $2.52 million to expand the center’s emergency department by 5,920 square feet and 10 beds; $1.35 million to expand and renovate the center’s obstetrics and nursery facilities; $1.34 million to purchase 64-slice CT scanner;  $1 million to upgrade medical records technology; $174,000 to purchase ventilators to be used for respiratory therapy.