Calhoun Commission approves health care contract for jail

The Calhoun County Commission approved a contract Thursday with Birmingham-based Quality Correctional Health Care for inmate care at the Calhoun County Jail. The annual contract includes an on-call physician who will visit the jail twice a week to see inmates, as well as a full-time registered nurse and three license practical nurses. Staff nurses will be at the jail for 16 hours, seven days a week, with a nurse available on-call 24 hours a day.  The commission last month approved a contract with Virginia-based Westwood Pharmacy for prescription medications for jail inmates.  For years, the jail was served by one nurse practitioner, who left the job earlier this year. Currently, the commission is under a temporary contract with Regional Medical Center.  The contract with Quality Correctional is set for one-year and is based on a 450-inmate population, but stipulates the contract can be re-negotiated should that population grow.