It was a sign of hope when the lights were suddenly turned on again a couple of weeks ago, and that’s because it was the first time since the former East Ohio Regional Hospital closed suddenly in late March.
Without public warning, a sign appeared on the medical facility’s front door on March 20th that read, “HOSPITAL CLOSED! PLEASE GO TO THE NEAREST HOSPITAL TRINITY, REYNOLDS, OR WHEELING!”
“That was heartbreaking,” said Martins Ferry Auditor Jack Regis. “And after our dispatchers were notified that the emergency room was shut down, it really set in. We lost our hospital again.”
But will a second resurrection take place?
While more than 200 former employees have engaged in a lawsuit against EORH owner Dr. John Johnson, Regis and other Martins Ferry officials have learned about the possibility of a new operator investigating the possible purchase of the facility on South Fourth Street. More than 400 hospital employees were left without their jobs when the sudden closure took place two months ago, and prior to the shuttering, Johnson failed to compensate the workforce on March 7th.
Several employees have received their pay, but some have insisted they have not.
“When Dr. Johnson first came to Martins Ferry, there was a lot of trust offered to him because of the people he had working for him,” Regis said. “Everything seemed to be going great until (COO) Bernie (Albertini) left and Johnson took over operations. I’ve heard he was telling people to do things completely differently and that it just wasn’t working the way it should.
“Everyone thought Johnson was going to do something good, and that’s what we thought was happening for more than three years. I hope we find out what happened to make it collapse the way it did, but I guess that doesn’t matter much now,” he said. “I believe a hospital can be successful in Martins Ferry if it’s operated the right way, and I think it was operated that way for a few years.”
Lights of Hope
It was on May 13th when an early-morning post on the “Martins Ferry Concerned Citizens” that informed Facebook members that the interior and exterior lighting was turned on after electricity and other utilities were shut off in late March.
While Regis is uncertain what equipment remains inside the facility, he has been informed that city officials and council members expect to hear from an interested buyer in the near future.
“Right now, we don’t know a whole lot other than we understand there’s an interested party. I know it was great to see the lights come back on a couple weeks ago, and a lot of other people felt the same,” Regis said. “We understand the interested party will soon address council, and I know our council members are anxious to hear what they have to say. That way, the message is delivered directly.
“From what I understand, we’re expecting that to happen during the first meeting in June, and I, for one, really hope it happens because I’ve always believed Martins Ferry is a better place with the hospital open,” he said. “The hospital was open for a lot of years; long enough for us to take it for granted. But then it closed, and we found out how that felt, and we’re finding that out again now, and it’s not good.”
Attorneys for Johnson negotiated a deal with the City of Martins Ferry in July 2020 so 75 percent of all collected income tax from hospital employees would be returned to EORH for ongoing infrastructure improvements. Regis, who has nearly 50 years of experience working for and/or representing Martins Ferry, was a council member at the time the income tax deal was finalized.
He’s the city’s auditor now.
“I know there are council members who are hopeful, and Mayor John Davies has been working hard to help to find a new owner for the hospital because he realizes how important it is to our community,” Regis said. “John has been speaking with a lot of residents and business owners because he knows how important it is to rally support for a new operator.
“Whether or not our council will support the same kind of deal the city gave Dr. Johnson, I don’t know. The last time I was a council member, and I was the one who had to talk to the other members so they understood,” he explained. “If these talks reach that point, it’ll be a council decision again.”
Peace of Mind
It all started with 30 beds in a hospital founded by physician Dr. R.H. Wilson in 1906, and the facility expanded to more than 100 rooms through the years. It was in the early 1980s when EORH became a part of the OVMC Inc. non-profit family, and the organization sold both the Ohio Valley Medical Center and East Ohio to Alecto Healthcare of California in 2017.
Two years later, however, Alecto shuttered OVMC in late-September 2019, and then EORH in early-October 2019. The Martins Ferry parcels, according to Belmont County records, were purchased by Johnson from Medical Properties Trust for $2.2 million in early 2020, and the hospital reopened on Feb. 4, 2021, with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in attendance.
“The hospital does great things for the economy in Martins Ferry when it’s operating, and I know our businesses miss those customers right now. The hospital brought people into our city every day,” Regis explained. “I feel with the hospital open, we have a better chance at attracting more businesses. Without it, I don’t think Martins Ferry is as attractive.
“For a lot of years, our residents knew that if they needed medical help, it was right down the street, and that’s been gone since (Dr. Johnson) closed the place without any warning,” he said. “I know our residents would like to see it reopen. I know I would because right now there are just two other options for emergency rooms until Trinity opens its new place in St. Clairsville. But right now, it’s Wheeling and Reynolds and people just wait and wait.”
The bottom line, for Regis anyway, is about life or death.
“You know, you have four minutes,” said Regis, a former volunteer first responder in Martins Ferry. “That’s it. Four minutes to treat someone who is having a big-time heart attack,” Regis insisted. “It takes longer than that to get our people to one of the hospitals, and that’s not good.
“Our family had a situation where we had a member who needed care immediately, and she coded twice on the way to the hospital and twice again once getting there,” he said. “The fact she’s still with us is a miracle, and I can only pray other families are blessed with the same in the future.”
