Mid-Ohio Valley Foundation – Health: Memorial Health System brings new facilities and services to MOV | News, Sports, Jobs

Memorial Health System opens a new pediatric emergency department in Belpre on January 2 (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

MARIETTA — Memorial Health System is bringing new facilities and services to the Mid-Ohio Valley.

In partnership with Akron Children's Hospital, Memorial University opened a new pediatric emergency department on the Belpre campus on January 2nd.

The emergency department has eight beds, a nurse's desk, a triage room, and a physician's work station. Laura Poloff, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Akron Children's Division, said the facility is open seven days a week from 2 p.m. to midnight.

Poloff said the pediatric emergency department has a physician trained in Akron Children's Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship, two Memorial Health System nurses, a respiratory therapist and a medical assistant on each shift. He said he is doing so.

Scott Cantley, President and CEO of Memorial Health System, said most health care in the community begins in the emergency room, and the Belpre Pediatric Emergency Department is an opportunity that Memorial Health System can provide to the community. He said it is a strong starting point for all other care.

Alexis Fazio, director of marketing for Memorial Health System, shows off the proposed vision for a new women's and children's hospital in Belpre, which Memorial plans to open in late 2025. (File photo)

“The first thing we wanted to do is bring emergency, crisis care.” Mr. Canti said about the pediatric emergency department on its first day of operation. “What has never been done before for the children of this region, a true pediatric ER, will be the absolute starting point and foundation for everything else that comes after. We've been asking for access to pediatric subspecialty care.”

Another commitment Memorial is bringing to the region is building a new women's and children's hospital in Belpre. The hospital will be built on the site of a closed toll compression facility on Farson Street and is being developed in partnership with Akron Children's in July 2023 at a cost of $125 million.

“If you think about the last 75 years in the Mid-Ohio Valley, we've been delivering babies here for a long time, but in the last 75 years, most pediatric care has started to move to specialty centers, to children's hospitals. .” Cantlay said.

She said pediatrics is becoming more subspecialized as parents want and expect the same type of specialized care that adults receive for their children. Parents in the area were taking their children to Akron or Columbus for this treatment, so the pediatric emergency room was the first step in bringing it here.

“Over the past few years, we have begun working with Akron Children's Center to see if we can change this by bringing more pediatric support to Marietta, and if we can all work together, now is the time. We came to this partnership thinking, “Maybe it's the right thing to do.'' It's time for us to really expand. ” Cantlay said.

Cantley said Belpre was chosen as the location for the pediatric emergency department and Women's and Children's Hospital because of its central location in areas such as Marietta, Athens and Parkersburg.

Cantley said construction of the Women's and Children's Hospital is still in the construction phase.

“We're working with the state, we're working with the Akron Children's Center, and we're preparing to demolish the manufacturing site here over the next several months.” He said. “Probably by the end of March the site will be completed and we will be ready to start preparing the foundation (and) for the foundation of the building.”

Cantley said the plan is to open the women's and children's hospital by the end of 2025.

Once the Women's and Children's Hospital is built, the gynecological services that Memorial provides at the Marietta campus will be moved to Belpre, an existing building across the street from where the new Women's and Children's Hospital will be constructed. Dan Breese, Memorial Health System's vice president of physician services and chief medical officer, said a bridge will be installed to connect the two buildings. Memorial is also building a facility in Athens County that will provide all services in Belpre, including outpatient services. Separate emergency department. Diagnostic access such as CT, X-ray, MRI, and nuclear medicine. All laboratory tests. There will also be a doctor's office, Cantley said.

Memorial Health plans to construct one four-story building to accommodate all of these services. The facility will be located on Columbus Road in Athens, near the intersection of Route 33 and Ohio 50, Cantley said.

The building will be approximately 100,000 square feet and cost $110 million, Breese said.

Cantley said the company plans to start with a few specialties, such as primary care and rheumatology, and then expand based on market response.

“We're really excited.” Cantley said of the Athens facility. “We need to open this first phase, the freestanding ER. We expect to open in May or June.”

Cantley said the doctor's office and diagnostic services will open in mid-to-late summer 2024.

Memorial Health is also building a new hospital on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River in Sistersville.

Memorial Health acquired Sistersville General Hospital in 2020, Breese said.

“I knew the building itself was old and run down.” Brees said.

Cantley said Memorial Health “We want to help Sistersville, which is really struggling to keep its doors open.” When we bought the hospital.

They also recognized the need to revamp the clinics in Middlebourne, Sistersville and St. Mary's, Breese said.

“We are currently in the design stage of it.” Mr Breese said of the new hospital: “We hope to open a new hospital there in the second half of 2025.”

The new hospital will be located across the street from the existing hospital on property owned by Memorial, Breese said.

Memorial offers imaging services, emergency room and limited inpatient services in Sistersville. The new hospital will have more space, expand inpatient resources, and provide procedural space for services such as pain interventions, podiatry, orthopedics, and expanded wound care, making it more It will allow for strong emergency services, Breese said.

The construction of the new hospital will allow the hospital to expand from its current eight beds to up to 12 beds. This will give nurses and doctors more resources to help patients, Breese said.

The new hospital will be a two-story building. The cost of renovating a new hospital and clinic, or possibly building a new clinic, is estimated at $30 million to $35 million, Breese said.

“We are thrilled to be able to make this investment in Tyler County and ensure that our community continues to be served for the next 100 years.” Cantlay said.

Cantley said Memorial announced new innovations in fall 2023.

“One of the latest innovations I’m most excited about is our new partnership with Mayo Clinic Care Network.” Cantlay said.

Breese said Memorial Health joined the Mayo Clinic Care Network, which has only 60 members and hopes to provide a level of quality never seen before in the Mid-Ohio Valley. said that he had done so.

By joining, Memorial Health now has access to all of the network's resources, including 4,500 providers and Mayo Clinic itself. Membership allows physicians to communicate with patients about their cases and receive information such as whether they are on the right track and how they can work with Mayo Clinic to help their patients.

If you'd like to start a new program at Memorial Health, you can get information about how Mayo Clinic operates its programs. They also have access to all of Mayo Clinic's treatment protocols and pathways, Breese said.

Smith said being a member of the network is also a great tool for staff because they have access to Mayo Clinic's patient education resources.

Breese emphasized that Memorial Health remains an independent health system and is not owned by Mayo Clinic.

“We invest all of our funds locally to keep health care local.” Brees said.

Jennifer Offenberger, Memorial Health Vice President of Service Excellence, said the new facility is all part of Memorial's mission. “We bring the care people need to their communities so they don't have to travel. Our mission is to bring excellence to people's backyards.”

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsenintel.com.