Nearly 40 years ago, Natchez was on the cutting edge of medicine. The new hospital — then Jefferson Davis –&160;was opening, and local residents began to take advantage of the new treatment facility offered to them. Now, it’s a new millennium, and the 40-year-old facility has a new name — Natchez Regional Medical Center — and a renewed mission.

And, more important, it has a new set of challenges to face each day, from competing private health care companies to the financial restrictions of dealing with shrinking government reimbursements for medical services.

It’s not an enviable position, and it’s a struggle that hundreds of health care facilities across the nation are facing.

But, we must applaud Natchez Regional’s staying power, and the efforts of its employees to continue to provide courteous, quality medical services to the community.

And we must encourage the hospital’s administration, its board of trustees and, ultimately, the Adams County Supervisors, to continue to focus on determining the best possible course for the hospital in the future.

Navigating the often turbulent waters of Adams County politics while holding steady on a course of providing top-quality health care is a difficult journey, one the hospital has been on for 40 years now.

With the future ahead, the waters are likely to be filled with more storms as that administration and board of trustees struggles to make the smartest choices for the hospital in the future — choices about how to provide services while government reimbursements are shrinking; about how to survive, even thrive, in an increasingly competitive field; and about how to handle the sensitive issues associated with operating a publicly owned facility.

They’ve managed to navigate those waters for 40 years now, and we applaud that as we look ahead on our journey.