Johnson County Hospital was a hospital located in Mountain City, TN that existed from 1972 until its final closure in 1998. The hospital faced multiple financial challenges during its existence and was forced to close three times. In 1988 it closed for the penultimate time, and as it had in the past, it counted on the community, local business and local government to reopen the hospital. Three local businessmen were particularly dedicated to reopening the county hospital and reached out to East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and their newly formed College of Medicine. A partnership was formed between the community and ETSU to open a rural campus to educate medical, nursing, public health and allied health students. This rural campus was made a reality through the Kellogg Grant awarded to ETSU in 1991 and was expanded to include graduate medical education in 1996. This collaboration between the community, local businesses, local government and ETSU was able to reopen the hospital in 1992 and jump-started interprofessional education at ETSU which is continued today in the form of the Academic Health Sciences Center and the Interprofessional Education Program.