He is the Martins Ferry council member who made the motion two weeks ago to instruct the city attorney to craft an ordinance that would return three-fourths of the 1 percent income tax collected from employees of the future East Ohio Regional Hospital, and this evening Jack Regis plans to make efforts to further expedite the process.
Martins Ferry Council is scheduled for its regular meeting at 7 p.m. this evening in council chambers on the second floor on the City Building. Social distancing will be mandatory, and anyone wishing to be heard will have to wait in the hall until summoned.
“I intend to make a motion to suspend the rules so we can get this done, but, of course, the majority of council has to agree with that motion for it to happen,” said Regis, a former Martins Ferry mayor. “For that to happen, we would need six votes, but I really don’t see any opposition to it so I think we’ll be able to move on from there.
“I know some people have locked onto the 75 percent that the city will give back, but I think of the impact of what an open hospital will do for the residents and the businesses in Martins Ferry,” he continued. “And it is going to be a big boost for our emergency squad because the funding for it will increase. Plus, I think we’ll see some more businesses open in the city, too.”
He Took a Walk
Long before the conversation reached this point, Councilman Regis was able to stroll through the hospital’s hallways following the closure and gutting for the former operator, and he did not like what he saw.
“Pretty soon after we started having the talks with the new owner, I went to the hospital and was able to take a walk through it. I was curious as far as what we left behind,” Regis explained. “So, I got to see what it looked like after everyone had left, and it was kind of scary, in a way, because I had never seen it like that before.
“I’m sure there is a lot of people who do not realize the amount of work they have to do. It’s not a turn-key operation; that’s for sure,” he continued. “There’s not a switch to flip to open the emergency room, for example. But it will happen. We may not have a date yet, but it will happen, and I think it will be sooner than what some think.”
He owns that confidence because of his prior experiences with Chief Operating Officer Bernie Albertini.
“There is a lot of space in that facility, and there’s a lot of renovations that need to be done before they can open again,” Regis confirmed. “They have to get things like radiology and the labs back up before the emergency room can open, and we understand all of that. Pretty much the hospital was gutted after it closed.
“Bernie (Albertini) was a terrific leader for that facility when he was there, and I really don’t think the city of Martins Ferry could ask for a better person to accomplish what needs accomplished,” he said. “I also think the city of Martins Ferry has an obligation to the entire valley to do what we can do to get that hospital up and in operation as soon as possible.”
Regis also recognizes that access to Wheeling Hospital will decrease once the eastbound lanes are closed along Interstate 70. The three bridges east of Wheeling Tunnel are scheduled for demolition between February and October 2021.
“The timing for this facility is great because next year the state of West Virginia will close the eastbound lanes on Interstate 70, and that’s going to make access to Wheeling Hospital very difficult,” Regis said. “I think that will make East Ohio Regional a hotspot because of how easy it will be to get to for the people who live here on the Ohio side, and for the people in Wheeling, too.
“That is why Martins Ferry will see a big influx of patients and people coming in,” he explained. “Those eastbound lanes are supposed to be closed in February 2021, and I’m confident that East Ohio Regional will be open by then based on the plan Bernie has explained to our council.”
25% Better than 0%
Albertini has explained his plan to reopen portions of the medical facility in step-by-step fashion, and that plan has met with Regis’ approval.
“And the 25 percent that the city will retain will be a boost for Martins Ferry. It won’t be a savior or anything like that, but it’s going to help us with the general fund and the operations that are funded by the general budget,” Regis explained. “I believe it will work, and a lot of people will be very happy once that hospital gets back on its feet.
“It’s my belief that the people in Martins Ferry and in valley will rest easier at night knowing that the ER is open and that help is back,” he said. “And think about it. Twenty-five percent is better than nothing, and that’s what we have seen since it was closed.”
It was a Friday night, Sept. 27, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. when the medical facility closed, and operations were shuttered by Alecto. The same took place on Sept. 4, 2019, at the Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling. More than 1,000 jobs were lost in the Upper Ohio Valley, and suddenly Wheeling Hospital and WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital were forced to shoulder the need.
“Disbelief, I think, was the reaction of the residents because no one really thought it was possible,” Regis explained. “There were so many people who had worked there for decades, and I don’t think anyone thought it was possible.
“It’s just like Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel. I worked there for 37 years, and if someone would have told me that Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel was going to close up in this valley, I would have called them crazy,” he said. “That’s the same kind of disbelief I went through just like the employees of the hospital did.”
