Members of the media were invited by WVU Medicine United Hospital Center to tour the expanded Rapid Care services, as well as the facility’s new retail pharmacy ahead of its opening day on March 30.

The center’s Rapid Care is “designed to treat everything from the common cold to fractures and sprains,” a press release from WVU Medicine United Hospital Center states. Services are available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the services only being closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Rapid Care now has a separate entrance from the rest of the Elkins Corridor Medical Center to ensure “the safest and healthiest environment” for all patients, said Abby Haddix, the Elkins Corridor Medical Center Director of Ambulatory Services, MSN, RN. The on-site pharmacy can also be accessed from this separate entrance.

Since its grand opening on Sept. 9, the center’s Rapid Care sees around 40 to 50 patients a day in 12 exam rooms, Haddix explained. Rapid Care originally began with just eight exam rooms. Each exam room is outfitted with vital machines and moveable exam chairs. Rapid Care also has a “large exam room” with a Stryker bed in case patients need stitches or IV fluids.

Elkins Corridor Medical Center’s pharmacy manager Kim Roberts, right, and pharmacist Stephanie Teets, left, speak during a tour of the new retail pharmacy.

United Hospital Center CEO Dr. David Hess said many of the rooms in Rapid Care are very similar to what you would see in a hospital. Hess described the center as a “hospital without beds.”

“Very excited about what we’ve created, what we’ve built,” Hess told members of the media. “I think the exciting thing for us is how the community has responded to it. We’re seeing some days in Rapid Care over 50 patients a day, which is busier than some of the small emergency rooms in our health system. When you put good providers into a great community that’s been very receptive to WVU Medicine, I think that’s when the magic happens.”

Hess stated that, much like other facilities under the WVU healthcare system, the Elkins Corridor Medical Center has begun using Abridge, a generative AI “ambient listening software” that takes notes for physicians during exams. Hess explained that the use of Abridge is important because “the AI piece doesn’t forget anything,” and it allows WVU physicians to be more efficient and spend more time with patients instead of having to take time out of their schedule to type out their notes.

Hess also noted that, while they did expect a number of patients to be from outside of Randolph County, the center has seen a surprising amount of patients from Tucker County and Pocahontas County. As Hess explained, it is easier for residents from those counties to come up to Elkins for WVU medical services rather than travel all the way to Bridgeport or Morgantown.

When asked what was the biggest challenge the center has faced so far, Hess said, from his standpoint, it has been how fast the facility has grown.

“We knew from the data in the health system, as well as the data from United Hospital Center, we had a large following in Randolph County,” Hess said. “That’s the reason we wanted to put this building here, but we didn’t know we would grow this fast and this quickly. We thought we would and we hoped we would, but when we get these daily numbers back from Abby (Haddix) that almost 300 people a day are coming through this building, that’s busier than some of our small hospitals in the health system… It’s a great problem to have.”

The center’s Rapid Care has also added a second x-ray unit to the building. In the suite where the second x-ray unit will be, WVU Health System Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Integration Officer Dr. Chris Goode explained that this growth is a reflection of how the community has embraced the clinic.

Goode called the overall space in the new x-ray suite a “great opportunity” for the center to expand Rapid Care services.

“We hope, as you come here to Rapid Care, if you need future speciality services, many of those are offered here in the building,” Goode told members of the media. “There’s opportunity, if you have an orthopedic injury, to be seen and evaluated in Rapid Care and sometimes seen the same day by orthopedic providers or have that really aligned post-discharge care.”

Goode added that, as the center continues to expand and add services, they keep seeing “consistent and steady rise” in staff employment volume. The Elkins Corridor Medical Center, Haddix said, has around 60 staff members working on-site every day, but there are over 80 total employees, including providers.

The center’s soon-to-open retail pharmacy will provide over-the-counter medications as well as prescriptions for those either just coming from an appointment at the Elkins Corridor Medical Center or from out in the community. Pharmacy manager Kim Roberts said that the new pharmacy is all about “patient-centered convenient care.”

“We’re just hoping to be the best, convenient location for patients,” Roberts told members of the media. “We are welcome to take any patient that wants to come to us. I think having a one-stop shop in the Medical Corridor… we’re associated with Epic, we have access to all of the doctors. Everything’s interconnected. It provides the most patient centered care… We’re hopeful we have lots of people come in.”

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the expansion of Rapid Care and for the new pharmacy, Haddix said the growth represents an “exciting chapter” for the WVU healthcare system.

“It reinforces our commitment to providing convenient, accessible care for our community and surrounding areas,” Haddix told the crowd of community leaders and members of the public. “We are incredibly grateful for the dedication of our team, physicians, our nursing staff, our registrars, everyone that makes it be what it is… It’s truly wonderful to see so many people celebrate with us.”

Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco also addressed the crowd during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, stating that the City of Elkins’ relationship with WVU Medicine United Hospital Center has become a “wonderful friendship.”

“You have filled a void for us. I think, going forward… as Corridor H opens up and we have more people that are transiting out, you know, that are visiting (Elkins), we have to look at that aspect,” Marco said. “We are the epicenter for outdoor recreation. Accidents happen. People are going to need treatment, we know that… (I’m) looking forward to the future expansion.”