Groundbreaking
Mon Health hosts ceremony in Elkins
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Brooke Binns
Taking part in the groundbreaking are, from left, Darryl Duncan, Mon Health president and CEO; Dr. Morgan Lyons, Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center cardiologist; Frank Koenig, Randolph County Development Authority board president; Mark Scott, Randolph County commissioner; Robbie Morris, RCDA executive director; Lisa Davis, Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center nurse practitioner; Dr. Brad Warden, Mon Health Hearth & Vascular Center cardiologist; Van Broughton, mayor of Elkins; and Mike Taylor, Randolph County Commission president.
ELKINS -- Mon Health representatives, along with numerous local leaders, broke ground for a new state-of-the-art heart and vascular facility Thursday.
Since 1994, Mon Health has served people with heath and vascular needs in Randolph County and other nearby communities at their location on Main Street in Elkins. Thursday afternoon, the health care complex held an official ground breaking ceremony for their new facility, which will be located along Railroad Avenue.
"Today is a big step for us - we want to advance what we are doing here. We're going from a clinic that's still in the 1970s or '80s to an 8,000 square-foot, modern clinic that can offer the services that this community needs," Darryl Duncan, Mon Health president and CEO, said.
Dr. Brad Warden, Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center cardiologist, said he, along with Mon Health, is honored to be committing long term to the community of Elkins to provide care for people in and around the area.
"I'm honored that we provide care for lots of you, and we're honored that you trust us to provide care for your family members," Warden said. "We provide a patient-centered approach which is sort of a dying breed, but we think it's something very important -- where we not only take care of people but we care for them. There are a lot of places out there that you can go and get treated, but there's only a few places where you can go and get cared for."
The improved center - an 8,000 square-foot building -- is expected to open in late summer 2018. The center will feature exam rooms, cardiac rehabilitation and diagnostic testing for patients.
"Our mission at Mon Health is to improve the health of the communities we serve, and we do that one person at a time," Duncan said. "Part of our mission is to make it hard for (people) to say no, so we have to put services close to where people live and work so it's hard for them to say 'No, I'm not going to do that.'"
Mon Health and the Randolph County Economic Development Authority reached an agreement earlier this year to secure the property for the new facility.
Robbie Morris, RCDA executive director, said there are "many great things" going on in Randolph County, Elkins and throughout the region, noting he is pleased Mon Health is investing further in the community.
"To be in the rural setting that we are here in Elkins and Randolph County and the rural state of West Virginia - to have our health care industry growing, it really says a lot about our community, about our region, our location and not only the current economic situation of our county, but what it looks like going forward," Morris said.
According to the national health index Healthgrades' evaluation of Medicare inpatient data for 18 states, Mon Health's heart and vascular center ranks among the top 10 percent for cardiac surgery in the country.