Stokes Home Health may be sold

(The Stokes News) - Stokes County has operated a public home health service for 30 years, but the service is on the verge of being sold to the private sector. Liberty Homecare, a privately-owned home health agency, has made a lucrative offer to buy the service from the county. The contract must be approved by July 31, necessitating a decision in the very near future.

Although the final decision rests in the hands of the Stokes County Commissioners, the Stokes County Board of Health met on Tuesday night to reach their own decision which would be considered by the commissioners. In the end, the board voted not to make a decision but to turn the issue totally over to the commissioners.

Ron Carroll, a county commissioner who is also a member of the board of health, spoke out at the Tuesday night meeting. “I can’t make a recommendation on something I can’t see,” he said, referring to the fact that the terms of the contract have not been made public. Carroll insisted he needed to know “the nuts and bolts of it.”