As hopes remain that Sharon Regional Hospital could still be saved, each passing day means preparing for what happens if it's not.

Right now, the hospital is only accepting patients in the Emergency Room, stabilizing them, and transferring them to other facilities--but that's where the risk lies. Those coming in are often facing potentially life-threatening emergencies.

"We had a patient come in in full cardiac arrest. Those are the situations where, when you talk about transferring a patient...you just can't transfer a patient who's dying.", said Dr. Chinedu Igwe, a cardiologist at Sharon Regional.

That's because during a transfer, there are far fewer medical professionals present than in a fully-functional hospital. Dr. Igwe says that in this case, the patient was saved. But she worries about what could happen if the cardiac team in Sharon weren't available.

"Some people who are sick are not stable enough to survive an hour-road drive, or be able to get the chopper and fly them down to a bigger center. Time is muscle, especially with heart stuff. The earlier you can intervene and stabilize the situation, the higher the chances the person is going to survive.", Dr. Igwe explained.

In other words, every second counts.

"When you have a heart attack, the timer starts. A national average, we try to open up that artery in 90 minutes. At Sharon Regional, our average is 60 or less, under an hour. Those patients we serve now, once the hospital closes, are not going to be served by any facility that's close enough to maintain those standards.", said Dr. Brandon Mikolich, also a cardiologist at SRMC.

Unless a new operator comes forward, the hospital is set to wind down over the next two weeks, with January 6th as it's final day in operation.