Alabama
Alabama Alliance of Community Hospitals: The Gum family grows – a community hospital story
When Caitlin Gum and her husband Robert decided to move to North Alabama from New Jersey, they knew their lives would change. But as they considered which community in North Alabama would be the best fit for their family, they didn’t know just how much change was coming.
The Gums, who previously lived in the southeast, chose to return to their roots because they missed the culture, pace of life, and sense of community it offers. They also wanted to be close to family in Chattanooga. The couple considered buying a home in
Madison County but ultimately, they found exactly what they wanted in Cullman.
One month before they moved to Cullman, Caitlin learned she was pregnant—with twins. While local access to quality healthcare had been a factor in their decision to move to Cullman, the happy surprise left the couple with questions they hadn’t considered before. Where should they deliver the babies? What OB provider should they use?
Caitlin was 37, pregnant with twins, and had some complications in a previous pregnancy, so they needed to choose somewhere that offered advanced maternity and newborn care.
“We were still new to the area, so we asked around,” Caitlin said. “So many people told us we needed to go to Birmingham or Huntsville.” Then, by sheer coincidence, Robert met Dr. Taylor Massengill who is an OB-GYN physician at Cullman Regional. He took the opportunity to ask her advice, and she encouraged the Gums to consider delivering in Cullman.
“We need to move away from this assumption that care is better in big cities and big hospitals,” said Dr. Massengill. “My partners and I are doing our best to provide exceptional, evidence-based care for our patients. I’m really proud of that.”
Her advice to the couple resonated and on January 14, Dr. Massengill delivered the twins at 34 weeks gestation.
While Caitlin did not have any delivery complications, both babies required care in Cullman Regional’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which is a highly specialized nursery that cares for premature newborns and infants with certain medical conditions.
A team of neonatologists and neonatal nurse practitioners staff the NICU around the clock. Caitlin and Robert visited the twins every day.
“That’s really when it made a difference. It would have been much harder to go home and leave them at a hospital in another city an hour or more away. Because the babies were at Cullman Regional, we felt close to them. It meant we could spend more time with them, and it made those two weeks easier for our four-year old-son, too.”
Thinking back on how they got here, Caitlin and Robert are happy they decided to move to Cullman and grateful for that chance encounter with Dr. Massengill. They’ve settled into their new life and are looking forward to watching the kids grow and thrive in their small-town community.
For Caitlin, it’s important that she shares their story because she believes other families should know that her community hospital provided the birth experience they wanted, the advanced care they needed, and reassurance that future healthcare needs can be
provided locally. “I had doubts in the beginning about a community hospital being able to care for me and my babies, but we decided to trust Dr. Massengill,” said Caitlin. “After the whole experience with Dr. Massengill, my delivery, and the NICU care, those doubts were all taken away.”
Making the Case for Community Hospitals
When pregnant women are looking for pre-natal and maternity care, most would expect to find it in or at least near their local community but that’s not always the case. In fact, around the same time Cullman Regional expanded its maternity capabilities with the opening of its NICU, several community hospitals in Alabama announced they were having to close their OB programs. A lack of maternity care has become a real concern in Alabama, especially in rural areas.
“We already had maternity deserts in Alabama but with the recent OB closures, access to maternal-fetal care is even worse,” said Cullman Regional Chief Nursing Officer Charna Brown.
In 2025, multiple state and federal programs were established to provide much needed funding for rural hospitals and increase access to important healthcare services including OB care. As those programs develop and deploy, the hope is to relieve chronic financial strains that community hospitals endure and stabilize healthcare services in local communities.
“We live only 20 minutes away from the hospital,” said Caitlin. “With all the prenatal appointments during pregnancy, I can’t imagine how disruptive it would be driving an hour or more just to see a doctor.”
Community hospitals, whether they are rural or located in a non-urban area, are vital to their communities. They save lives, improve quality of life, and strengthen the local economy. When they stop offering a service, the community is harmed.
Advocating for community hospitals is critical to reverse the trend of hospital closures and loss of local services in Alabama. The Alabama Alliance of Community Hospitals was recently established to ensure that those with the ability to help have an accurate
understanding of the unique challenges and needs of community hospitals.
The Alabama Alliance of Community Hospitals (AACH) is dedicated to promoting the stability, growth and long-term sustainability of community hospitals across our state.
This week on “The Voice of Alabama Politics,” Alabama once again finds itself at the center of one of the nation’s biggest constitutional battles.
Bill Britt, Susan Britt and Josh Moon break down the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reopen Alabama’s redistricting fight, the growing uncertainty surrounding the state’s election maps and the larger national conflict over voting rights, race and political power.
The show also examines controversy surrounding Republican lieutenant governor candidate Wes Allen and President Donald Trump reopening his political split with former Congressman Mo Brooks.
What emerges is a portrait of Alabama once again serving as the testing ground for some of America’s biggest political and constitutional fights.
Avery Luedke will join the Alabama women for the upcoming 2026-2027 season. Luedke just spent her freshman season with fellow-SEC program Tennessee.
“I’m so excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at the University of Alabama!
I’d like to give a huge thank you to the Tennessee coaching staff for giving me the opportunity to be a Lady Vol and to all of my friends and family for supporting me throughout this process. I’m so thankful for my time at Tennessee and I will always be proud to be a LVFL.
I’m grateful for the journey that led me here, and so excited for this next chapter! Roll Tide!!”
Luedke is originally from Illinois and arrived in Knoxville last fall. She swam a season best 4:49.31 in the 500 free during the team’s midseason invite. Her season best in the 1650 free of a 16:33.91 came at Winter Juniors in December. She did not swim at the 2026 SEC Championships and instead finished her season at Tennessee’s Last Chance meet.
Her lifetime bests still stand from high school as she swam a 4:48.42 500 free in November 2024 during her high school season and a 16:30.28 1650 free in March 2025 at NCSAs.
Luedke’s Best Times:
| High School | At Tennessee | |
| 500 free | 4:48.42 | 4:49.31 |
| 1650 free | 16:30.28 | 16:33.91 |
The Alabama women finished 4th out of 13 teams at the 2026 SEC Championships, two spots behind Tennessee’s 2nd place finish. Alabama was led by Emily Jones who tallied 80 individual points including a 2nd place finish in the 100 back with a 50.59.
Based on her best times from high school, Luedke would have been 17th in the 1650 free and 24th in the 500 free. Alabama scored 33 points in the 1650 free and 13 in the 500 free at 2026 SECs. Her 1650 free from Winter Juniors this past season would have been 19th.
Does anyone else have redistricting fatigue? It seems our Republican legislators share this sentiment. What we are currently witnessing is yet another chapter in the ongoing book of Republican inaction when it comes to Alabama politics. I once thought it was a matter of incompetence, then perhaps a lack of urgency.
However, the current redistricting issues have led me to a more cynical perspective: perhaps many of the Republicans in Montgomery are not really who we think they are.
The United States Supreme Court gave the Alabama Legislature an opportunity of a lifetime when they lifted the injunction that has forced Alabama to draw its maps based on race for years now.
Attorney General Steve Marshall, who truly is the hero of this story, understood the assignment and stepped up when needed to deliver the state one of its biggest legal victories in history. These opportunities are extremely rare, and in this political environment, conservatives cannot afford to let them pass by.
And how did the so-called conservatives in the Alabama Legislature respond? Well, they played it safe, of course, by passing an already drawn 6-1 map claiming that this was the best they could do. Settling for the path of least resistance is not leadership, it’s cowardice under the mask of fake action. If “hurry up and look busy” ever embodied a group of individuals, we saw exactly that during this last special session.
I urge the “Republicans” in Montgomery to look to their North and South. Look at Tennessee, which went from an 8-1 map to 9-0 under intense protests. You think a couple of people shouting from the gallery in the Alabama House chamber was bad?
Take a look at what transpired in the Tennessee legislature as they passed this new map. Tennessee could’ve chosen not to lift a finger and be satisfied with 8-1, but pushed through to make its state completely red. Take a look at Florida, DeSantis had a new map ready almost immediately following the SCOTUS ruling. That’s true leadership, looking ahead and preparing how to strike best. That’s called winning.
Alabama is in an even more unique position than these states, where SCOTUS essentially told us this week, “For the love, please redraw your maps!” with the removal of our injunction. And yet, our Republican legislators crossed their arms and said, “go pound sand”.
The unfortunate reality is that if they wanted to, they would. If the Republicans in Montgomery truly wanted to paint their state red, they would. If they were truly conservatives as they claim, they would bite down on their mouthpiece, put their gloves up, and go to work. Instead, they fall back on the excuse of lack of time and expect you to be satisfied with that answer. They’ll tweet out how they want a 7-0 when it’s safe, and point the finger when they underdeliver.
It seems, once again, Republicans in Alabama don’t understand the gravity of the situation. The Democrats of 2026 want to do irreversible damage to our country.
We can look at the current rise of political violence from the left and take it as a warning. If they ever come back to power, they’re coming for blood.
This doesn’t appear to hit home in Montgomery.
What they’re essentially saying is that they’re willing to send someone to Congress from this state who advocates for abortion, wide-open borders, and all of the other despicable policies of the current Democratic Party, because they want to. What other answer is there? After what has transpired and been revealed through the redistricting process, this is the only place to land.
Attorney General Marshall did what he was supposed to. SCOTUS bent over backwards to hand you this opportunity, and you didn’t just fumble it, you threw it in the stands and then claimed you won the game.
If you’re going to give refuge to Democrats in this state, just change that “R” to a “D” and call it a day. We’d have much more respect for you than we do right now.
Justin “JP” Plott is the executive producer/co-host of “The Rightside with Allison and Amie Beth” and co-owner of Rightside Media. You can find him on X @JPRightside. Watch “The Rightside with Allison and Amie Beth” every weekday from 10am-12pm CT at www.rightsidemedia.org.
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