There is an old country adage that says if you cut your own firewood, it will warm you twice: once when you cut it, the second time when you burn it.

It’s not a precise metaphor, but Oktibbeha County cut its own firewood by virtue of its sale of the county-owned OCH Regional Medical Center to the Memphis-based Baptist Health Center Group. Baptist now owns a baker’s dozen of hospitals, including Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus.

County supervisors approved the $151 million deal, a move that will not only improve the quality of hospital care for its citizens but also leave the county with a healthy nest egg worth between $30 million and $35 million, after they pay off hospital-related debt. One move reaped two benefits.

There are still a few particulars to be completed, but the transaction should close sometime this fall.

With the deal, Baptist has committed to a $96.8 million investment in the hospital and agreed to offer employment to all active OCH employees in good standing at their current benefit levels while also continuing all existing services at the hospital. All services the hospital currently provides will be maintained in the transition, including the continued operation of ambulances for the county.

As for the proceeds from the purchase, the county would be wise to place the funds into a permanent endowment with strict usage rules.

That’s what Lowndes County did with the $30 million in proceeds from the sale of its hospital to Baptist in 2006. In 2013, a change in state law allowed the county to invest those funds more aggressively. Since then, the county has withdrawn almost $10 million in dividends while growing the principal another $10 million. Lowndes supervisors committed to using the profits exclusively for capital projects and have built county offices, an E-911 Center, and a handful of community centers with those profits.

There is likely to be some support among Oktibbeha supervisors to spend hospital-sale funds on pressing one-time needs, which is a temptation we understand.

But holding on to most, if not all, of those funds will make sure that the firewood the supervisors cut with its hospital sale will continue to provide warmth well into the future. If they don’t, they may find themselves left out in the cold.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.