Dwayne Pielech’s appearance at a recent Martins Ferry City Council meeting should be viewed as a good sign. Less than a month after the outgoing executive director of Belmont County Senior Services announced a partnership between his organization and WVU Medicine, BCSS is working to form a similar agreement with East Ohio Regional Hospital or other services.
It’s a move that both Bernie Albertini, the Chief Operating Officer at EORH, and Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies welcome. But the question remains, is this reactionary to the social media backlash when the move was first announced or a genuine willingness to form an additional partnership with a community hospital that operates entirely in-county?
Davies, for his part, first learned of the move after a city resident who attended the Belmont County Commissioners meeting where the announcement was made, mentioned it to him after the fact.
WVU Medicine runs Barnesville Hospital, which is in Belmont County, as well as smaller service facilities in both Belmont and Harrison Counties. But the big facilities locally are Wheeling Hospital and Reynolds Memorial Hospital, both of which are across the river in West Virginia. That’s in addition to WVU Medicine’s home base in Morgantown, W.Va.
Davies, the mayor of the city which houses East Ohio Regional, the county’s largest employer, was admittedly puzzled. As far as he knew, no one inquired with EORH leadership about a similar partnership. So, he went out to a commission meeting to make an inquiry.
“It boggles the mind why this happened, and I couldn’t get a straight answer,” Davies said. “They kept repeating that we didn’t exclude anybody. But when the press release announcing the partnership with WVU came out, it didn’t mention any other hospitals.
“So, I went straight out there and asked why, because that’s how I do business.”
Davies said he was told someone to contact the hospital and talk with a lab technician, as laboratory services were one of the key parts of the partnership agreement. Davies’ response?
“I said so if I need an answer from the commissioners, I should go talk to the groundskeeper and not the people in charge,” he said, admitting that county leadership wasn’t overly thrilled with his response.
“I told them I don’t want to fight, but I will if I have to, but I don’t want to waste my time fighting when we don’t need to,” Davies continued. “If we are all in the business of working for the people—I work for the people of Martins Ferry, so that’s who I fight for—but the commissioners represent the entire county. You’d want to do what’s best for the citizens of the entire county.”
That statement likely holds weight, considering Martins Ferry is the county’s largest city and houses some of the county’s largest employers, including EORH, Nickels Bakery, and United Dairy.
The hospital, in 10 months, has already paid $100,000 in income tax back to the city, and the ancillary benefits by a facility employing 500 people on a weekly basis can’t be understated.
EORH Leadership Ready to Help
Albertini is encouraged by recent talks he’s had both with county leadership and senior services leaders. He’s met both with Pielech and the commissioners. He has a meeting set on November 22 with incoming executive director Lisa Kazmirski.
“I’m meeting with the new director on the 22nd, and I find that very encouraging,” Albertini said. “Aside from (not) having a wellness center, we have labs, MRI, x-rays, or pharmacists and dieticians that can be sent out to the senior centers.
“We also have outpatient mental health that’s available through Access Ohio, one of Dr. Johnson’s companies. They have offices in the basement here and up at Mackey Avenue.”
Albertini feels there’s plenty of business to go around in Belmont County, as well as for the West-Virginia side of the river facilities.
When EORH closed a few years ago, Albertini believed the area to be under bedded, so he knows there’s enough for every facility, EORH, WVU Medicine, as well as Trinity.
“There’s plenty to go around and as a hospital in Belmont County, we want to be a part of that,” Albertini said. “We want to take care of our seniors. We are a community-based hospital, so we’re in a position to take care of the community. We don’t want to do things that are out of our scope. We want to take excellent care of our community and handle the basic health needs of the seniors in Belmont County.”
Albertini also reminded that EORH, since re-opening, has all new imaging equipment and a state-of-the-art laboratory that is second to none.
Albertini and the city both put a lot of sweat and time spent in getting the hospital back up and running, and he, for one, is going to fight to ensure it stays a viable part of the local healthcare community.
“The announcement was a little shocking, but nonetheless, I’ll fight because we have a good hospital here,” Albertini said. “I’ll fight to make sure it stays successful.
“But I’ve met with Dwayne and the commissioners, and they seem supportive and want to support the hospital, so we’ll see what we can come up with.”
“It would be great for everybody, the seniors, adults, youth, children, if they patronized all facilities,” Davies added. “If you don’t patronize, say Trinity, then if it shuts down, you are out of that facility, and you’ve just increased the wait-time for patients everywhere else.
“There are plenty of people and services in Belmont County, where all the facilities can prosper, and that will benefit everyone.”
