Dear Past Hospital Workers:
Some of you have expressed sadness since the big announcement and many of us do not understand why because – THANK GOD!! – those six buildings on the OVMC campus soon are to be someone else’s problems.
Back in June 2020, Wheeling Council took an enormous risk by agreeing to take possession of the six ever-aging structures along with leaking pipes, falling ceiling tiles, flaking paint, drafty windows, faulty electrical lines, and the $80,000 per month we taxpayers spent waiting for our Prince Charming to come along with the fitted slipper.
So, when Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron announced yesterday morning that WVU Medicine is going to take possession of the large property, one could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from everyone in the general vicinity of the Friendly City, and that’s because, with each passing day, the chances to re-purpose the buildings were fading more and more. Tours were taken, deals were proposed, and everyone asked to relocate to “22 Street Square” said “No Thanks.”
But you … well, you view it all differently, now don’t you? The campus we can’t wait to see come to the ground for a new beginning was a “second home,” the place where you saw your “other family,” and where you have just as many memories – if not more – than you have in your head from your “real family” vacations.
You wanted to see the lights come back on, the cars return to campus, and you wanted to hear the hum from the hubbub once more, and now you know none of that is going to happen and the disappointment is deep.
And, for those reasons, you have our compassion, and we do hope you’re able to join us someday in our satisfaction that a new cancer treatment and research center – and everything that comes with such a facility – will be created to save lives on the same Center Wheeling footprint where you and your co-workers performed many miracles decade after decade.
Sincerely,
PHEW!!!
