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ELKINS – David F. Hess, M.D., president and CEO of WVU Medicine United Hospital Center, addressed the Rotary Club of Elkins this week, giving the group details about the Elkins Corridor Medical Center project.
Dr. Hess is an internal medicine physician who made the switch to administration approximately nine years ago. He started his administrative career at Reynolds Memorial Hospital, near Wheeling; that hospital became a member of the WVU Medicine family in 2016. United Hospital Center is the fourth hospital in the WVU Medicine system that he has headed up, but he now is overseeing two more WVU Hospitals in Summersville and Braxton County.
Ground was broken for the $37.3 million, 38,000 square foot Elkins Corridor Medical Center last week. The goal of the project is to provide expanded medical services based on community demand.
WVU Medicine and United Hospital Center currently have doctors in the Elkins area. UHC cardiologist Dr. John McKnight approached Dr. Hess and told him that his patients in Elkins wanted more services and that UHC should consider expanding their offerings in the area.
"As a health system, through United Hospital Center, we came up with this project, but the patients asked for it," said Hess.
The project also has the ability to expand.
"We bought seven acres so we have the opportunity to grow as the community would want, need and demand," added Hess. "When looking for spots in Elkins, we wanted something that was visible and in the city limits of Elkins. We also wanted something that was easily accessible."
The facility will be located at the previous Teter Motors site, adjacent to the DMV and DHHR buildings on North Randolph Avenue. It is anticipated that the facility will be completed by October 2025.
The Elkins facility has been modeled after the WVU Medicine facility in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and the Fairmont Gateway facility that is right off the interstate. The facility will also incorporate extra space to allow for future expansion.
The facility, a "hospital without beds," will provide family medicine, an urgent care center open seven days a week, cardiology, orthopedics, oncology and cancer services, ear, nose & throat, urology, infectious disease, pain management, other subspecialties, imaging and a lab. Many of the specialties will only operate one day a week initially but will expand as the demand for a particular service increases.
It is anticipated that the vast majority of employees at the new facility will come from the Elkins area. There is no desire to move employees from other WVU/UHC locations to staff this new clinic.
"We will take local nurses to UHC prior to the opening of the facility and train them in our centers so they can live and work here. We can also take them over to St. Joseph's for training," Hess said. "Sometimes, we will take nurses from UHC and bring them down here and train staff on-site."
"We are wildly excited to have our first big space in Elkins and be able to service as many patients as need to come see us," Hess said. "We just wanted to extend our front door all the way down into Elkins."
Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the globe, in their communities, and in themselves. Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International, visit the club's Facebook page - Rotary Club of Elkins – or contact club president Kenny George at kenneth.george@blueridgeriskpartners.com for more information about the Rotary Club of Elkins.