MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Mon Health is preparing to construct a second small-format hospital similar to the one in Marion County in the Charles Pointe development in the Bridgeport area and a full-service facility in Lewis County.
In late 2021, the company opened its first small-format hospital, the Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital, in the White Hall area following the abrupt closure of the Fairmont Medical Center. The small-format concept offers the most common procedures on site and can provide telemedicine or higher-level care from the Mon Health full-service hospital in Morgantown.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Vandalia Health Network Executive Vice President David Goldberg said the White Hall location is always busy and has been well received by the public.
“It’s going extremely well; we’re averaging about 35 to 40 emergency room visits a day,” Goldberg said. “We have ten medical beds, and always, for the most part, we have people seeking care.”
The White Hall location has ten inpatient beds, an emergency department open 24-hours-a-day, full lab services, and x-ray, CT, and ultrasound services similar to the proposed Charles Ponte facility. The facilities cost about $25 million to build.
“If you need higher-level care—an operation, catheterization, or something more acute—then we transport that patient to the hospital,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said final preparations are being made administratively and at the site to break ground later this year. Construction will take about 18 months for the Charles Pointe project.
“We’re right now finalizing all of the plans, and in discussions with the developer, they’re finalizing some of the infrastructure and moving dirt on the site,” Goldberg said. “All of those aspects are underway now, and we’ll break ground later this year.”
Mon Health is also moving forward with the construction of a new $55 million full-service Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital near the Weston exit off I-79. The new facility will replace the existing Lewis County facility, which is about five miles away from the proposed site.
“They’ll deliver babies, have operating rooms, a site for some clinic offices, and hospital beds,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said they recruit for all areas almost all the time, and staffing levels are improving. For example, the entire staff at the Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital are full-time employees, and the use of agency personnel has dropped since the pandemic.
“If we don’t grow our own workforce, we’re not going to be able to have sustainability, and I’m glad to say we do,” Goldberg said. “So, hiring and retaining our own people and treating them like family is a differentiator at Mon Health.”