WVU Medicine opens Fairmont Medical Center

FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The new campus of WVU Medicine J. W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, the Fairmont Medical Center has officially opened for business.

On MetroNews Talkline, President and CEO of WVU Medicine Albert Wright said the campus will offer on-site imaging, including x-ray, ultrasound, and computed tomography (CT), and laboratory services.

“We put in our electronic medical record system, we’ve reopened the E.D. (Emergency Department) and we’ve got ten inpatient beds ready to go and we’re working on a few more,”Wright said,”With the intention of getting hospital services back in Marion County.”

Wright says his team will develop hospital service for the region as reopening continues.

“We’re going to see how things go, as you reopen are patients going to come back or are more patients going to come now that it’s under WVU Medicine,”Wright said,”We’ll add those services as we go.”

Alecto Healthcare Services announced in February of this year the hospital would close in 60-days, the community and workers were shocked when the closing date was moved up to the middle of March. The Fairmont Regional Medical Center operated in Marion County for 100 years and employed hundreds of people.

“We opened at 7 this morning, we had our first patient come in the E.D. through a squad at 8:10 and the E.D. is already filling up,”Wright said,”There’s obviously a need for services here.”

Wright says this area of the state really does need adquate healthcare service to support economic growth and quality of life.

“Fairmont, Bridgeport, Clarksburg corridor is an important area for the state and economic development,”Wright said,”And we need to have good healthcare services in Marion County.”

Wright says resident can expect top quality care when they come the “new” Fairmont Medical Center.

“These are full WVU Medicine physicians,”Wright said,”So, it’s the exact same emergency team and inpatient hospitals that you would get in Morgantown or Bridgeport.”

WVU is also building a 25 bed facility at the Fairmont Gateway Connector that is expected to open in 2022.