LOVELOCK--Lovelock sits astride Interstate 80. Its hospital, Pershing General is the only medical care between Reno and Winnemucca, a literal lifeline to anyone injured on the roadway or anyone in this small community with a medical emergency.

Its central location is the main reason you'll find a Care Flight helicopter based here 12 hours a day. The hospital itself has undergone some modernization in recent years. What was the oldest operating X-ray machine in the state was replaced with a new model. A CT scan machine any small hospital would be proud of was installed.

It's hard to overestimate its importance to the residents here. It also hosts the town's nursing home, its outpatient medical clinic and its only retail pharmacy. And it's one of the town's largest employers.

Some of that...at least is now at risk.

The hospital has been getting by day to day on cash the past few years, so it's no small matter to lose the fund that covered the liability for uninsured accident victims.

"We would have gone from breaking even this past year to the negative," says Hospital Administrator Matt Rees. "We would have gone into the red without those funds."

Ultimately, its the county government that's on the hook for indigent medical bills. The law says it's only liable for the first $25,000. The hospital is responsible for the remainder, but Pershing County can ill afford to see its hospital fail, With the loss of the Indigent Accident Fund, they're holding their breath.

"You get three or four people injured in an accident and Care Flight them to Reno and they're in intensive care for awhile. The bills are just outrageous," says County Commissioner Roger Mancebo. "If the county had to pay for everyone of those, we'd be hard pressed to stay afloat."

A hospital can't survive forever operating in the red. Rees was forced to make $2 million dollars in cuts in staff and benefits in the past year. Shortly after he talked with us, he headed into a meeting to announce hours were being reduced.

Times are tough, but is Pershing General really in danger of closing?

"We're right on the edge," says Rees.

And if Pershing General can't survive. Imagine someone insured or not critically injured in a traffic accident or suffering a heart attack. Care Flight is standing by, but survival may very well depend on stabilizing a patient before transferring to Reno.

Rees says it's no exaggeration to call it a matter of life and death. "If that golden hour is taken away because we're not here, those patients are going to suffer and may even pass away."

The impacts don't stop with those serious issues.,

Pershing County has been losing population in recent decades and like some other rural communities has faced an uphill battle to attract new business. In that search, its hospital plays an important role.

"No one wants to come to a community that doesn't have a medical facility," says Mancebo, "especially one that's a hundred miles away from big hospitals in Reno. "In my opinion, the hospital is the lifeblood of Lovelock."