Martha Connors has been featured here on LEDE News before because of her efforts to keep her former co-workers on the OVMC campus as informed as possible when the closures of both medical and psychiatric facilities took place nearly a year ago.
On a daily basis, Martha shared information concerning doctors, patients, medical records, health insurance, unemployment, possible employment, and many other topics because she was aware of the hysteria being experienced by all impacted by the sudden end. Initially, she attempted to temper the anger being expressed toward for the former provider on her Save HillCrest/OVMC.EORH Facebook page because the former Hillcrest caregiver believed that maybe, just maybe, the health care corporation would have a change of heart and retract the distributed WARN notices, but reality soon set in after silence was all that was heard from Alecto officials.
Martha has been with WVU Medicine Reynold Memorial Hospital since January, and the Marshall County facility opened its inpatient psychiatric unit last week. Since Hillcrest closed, deputies of the Ohio County and Marshall county sheriff’s offices have been forced to transport those in need of mental health care to other units as far away as Martinsburg and Charleston. Those situations, Connors knows, have caused stress to the deputies and patients alike.
And that’s not to mention the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled businesses, non-profits, the entertainment industry, and a plethora of other facets of the American society.
What psychiatric services are now available at WVU Medicine Reynold Memorial Hospital?
We have our outpatient services at a location just down the street from the hospital. We’re adjacent to John Marshall’s parking lot, but we will eventually be moving to new offices. We have two adult psychiatrists and one child psychiatrist, Dr. Nihit Gupta.The inpatient unit holds 24 patients and is open and ready for business. We have two adult psychiatrists, Paul Papadimitriou and Alber Ghobrial. We have two therapists, Sylvia Diss and Robert (Tim) Bowman. We opened January 6, and we are BUSY! After the closure, many patients were getting their maintenance meds from their PCPs, and now we’re getting so many referrals from those PCPs, for those patients and so many new ones. It very much confirms how desperately needed mental health services are in the Ohio Valley.
Now that the unit is open, people will no longer have to be hospitalized hours away from home. I had people from Fairmont congratulating us on the opening, since their community has also suffered since Alecto closed their hospital and the only mental health services in their area.
How is the Glen Dale facility different from what Hillcrest was when you worked there?
The Glen Dale unit is very modern and up to date. Debbie Clark, who was Nurse Manager of Hillcrest, moved on to WVU at the beginning of the shutdown at OVMC. She has worked closely with the staff at Reynolds Memorial Hospital to bring her expertise and lessons learned from years of working the floor at Hillcrest. Dr. Hess has stated that he has a special interest in mental health and he most definitely has been an advocate of bringing quality services to Marshall and surrounding counties. And that shows in the construction of the unit.
The unit was constructed with very much safety in mind. There are fewer beds, but I think single rooms (the Hillcrest rooms were all doubles) are preferable. Roommate issues were common at Hillcrest. There is a safe, soft-walled room for seclusion, something we always wanted at the Crest. The bathrooms are a nice size and allow easy access for staff to assist with bathing if needed. There’s also a psych ER, which is going to be a great service, and an asset to those in the ER for other concerns, as people at the height of a mental illness crisis can be disruptive.
As a former employee of Hillcrest, what is your hope for the OVMC campus now that the city of Wheeling has acquired the property?
Well, there are hopes, and then there are realistic expectations. My dream scenario would be that the city does whatever it needs to with the rest of the building, but that WVU is able to obtain the Hillcrest/Northwood portion of the building at a price that would allow them to renovate and open a unit there, with Northwood housing Outpatient services. If I’m dreaming big, I’d like to see our staff grow and split office days between Ohio and Marshall counties. (Actually, as busy as we are now, I’d love to see our staff grow NOW.) It would be in Wheeling’s best interest to provide some services to assist with the homeless because they are generally not making it to Glen Dale the way they could Hillcrest.
Please explain the DBSA and the ZOOM Support Group meetings that will begin this Tuesday.
I was given Devon Sleeth’s business card with an enthusiastic recommendation to touch base with her. We’ve had only one conversation, but I was impressed, and I think she can do some real positive work in the community. She had some help from Amy Gamble in obtaining some grant monies, so that speaks volumes. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to start a new program like this during a pandemic with social distancing. But Devon is dedicated and she’s rolling with the punches and starting out with Zoom meetings. She’s got some big plans, and I hope she can get the word out.
As a resident of Martins Ferry, please explain the impact on the city that the reopening of East Ohio Regional Hospital will have later this year.
The reopening of EORH has been met with excitement and a whole lot of people wanting info about employment. We desperately needed this hospital reopened, for ER services if nothing else. The campus is in better shape than the OV campus, and the office buildings for physicians should fill up quickly. I recently had a need for ER services and had the kids take me to Reynolds, where I got excellent care, but if I’d been bleeding or having a heart attack or a stroke, I definitely would have wanted a place three minutes from my house.
This reopening is absolutely going to save lives and hopefully help revitalize my new hometown. I sent an invitation to Bernie Albertini to join the Save Hillcrest/OVMC/EORH page but never got a response. I had hoped he could help me keep rumors to a minimum and release info as soon as it was feasible to do so. I’m currently depending on Tammi Waters Schreiner, a VIP member of the group, to keep providing factual info in a sensible manner as she has been since the closure. I don’t know what her position is in the organization, but I know she deserves a raise!
