Plans are being put in place to reopen the Horton Community Hospital.

That was revealed during a community meeting held Thursday evening at the Horton High School.

The crowd of around 175 seemed shocked when Horton City Administrator John Calhoon made the revelation. After a moment of digesting the announcement, the crowd erupted into applause.

Calhoon told MSC News the plan to reopen was developed after he placed an unrelated phone call Thursday afternoon to the court-appointed trustee involved with the bankruptcy filing that came two days after the hospital’s March 12 closure.

Calhoon said he was soon involved in a near one hour conference call which also involved hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Richard Brown and Hospital CEO Ty Compton.

Although he couldn’t offer specifics, Calhoon said the planned reopening would happen in phases over the next couple of months, including the opportunity to immediately obtain medical records. “We can’t be real specific, but I’m hoping we have full services back within a month to no more than three months.”

Calhoon said many of the immediate decisions will be at the discretion of the court-appointed trustee, but additional details could be released as early as sometime Friday.

During Thursday evening’s meeting, Calhoon assured those in attendance that the trustee appears to be just as concerned as they all were and wants to be of help to the community.

MSC News Brian Hagen contributed this report.