District 2 Commissioner Shiela Tyson during a stakeholders roundtable meeting at the construction site of the future Medical West Hospital in Bessemer, AL, on January 26, 2022. Elected and government officials from the USDA, Jefferson County Commission, and UAB Medical West Hospital discuss collaborations to strengthen and expand healthcare access for rural communities. Following this, U.S. Department of Agriculture USDA Deputy Agriculture Secretary Jewel Bronaugh will announce more than $1 billion in investments to transform rural areas across the country. Following the announcement, they will tour the construction site. Of this, Bessemer’s Medical West Hospital Authority will use a USDA Rural Development $360 million Community Facilities Direct Loan to build a state-of-the-art, 200-bed hospital. It will feature a 26-room emergency department, 12 operating rooms, eight labor and delivery rooms, and eight multi-purpose rooms. This 405,186- square-foot facility will be strategically located to serve rural west Jefferson County, rural west Tuscaloosa County, and other surrounding rural communities. This project will benefit approximately 333,000 rural people in these communities.