Federal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
WVU To Spend $110 Million Rebuilding Fairmont Medical Center
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A hospital that almost shut down last year is now expanding under new ownership. West Virginia University Health System announced Friday that it would invest $110 million in the Fairmont Medical Center.
Over the course of about five years, WVU plans to completely rebuild the Marion County hospital “in place”, which was originally built in the 1930s.
“Every window in this facility needs replaced, every roof needs replaced, just about every pipe needs replaced,” said Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System and West Virginia University Hospitals.
WVU Medicine photo courtesy of Jason DeProspero
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Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System (left), shakes hands with Gov. Jim Justice in Fairmont.
More than 60 beds will be added, totalling 110 when work is done. Hundreds more employees will be hired, said Wright, speaking at a Friday news conference.
The hospital will provide comprehensive care to the county of more than 50,000 people. Wright said the hospital currently serves about 55 patients a day.
The announcement comes roughly one year after WVU took over operations of the struggling hospital. The Times West Virginian reports that the hospital closed in March 2020 under California-based former owner Alecto Healthcare Services LLC. The company said the hospital was hemorrhaging money.
WVU reopened the hospital in June 2020 as a 10-bed emergency room, operating as a satellite of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Gov. Jim Justice joined Wright today in making the announcement. He said saving the regional hospital was a heroic feat for all those involved.
“It would have been a shame beyond belief that you wouldn’t have had a community full-service hospital in Marion County,” he said. “This is a wonderful story of how good people worked really, really hard… these people deserve so much credit.”
There are 15,101 students experiencing homelessness in the state, according to a report given to the Joint Committee on Children and Families during December interim meetings. These are students outside of foster care. Of those, 86% are living with others, 5.4% are staying in shelters, 4.3% are in hotels and motels, and 4.3% are unsheltered. The committee discussed a number of bills Monday they plan to introduce when the regular session begins in January. The hope is to create clearer pathways for children to find permanent stability.
The suit is the latest in years of legal action to try and recoup damages for the effects of the opioid crisis from the companies seen as primarily responsible.
