2 days ago
Vandalia and Mon Health begin construction on boutique hospital in Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT — Vandalia Health is expanding its footprint to Harrison County, with a new hospital at Charles Pointe in Bridgeport.
'This will be our second small format hospital,' David Goldberg, president and CEO of the Mon Health System, Davis Health System and Vandalia North, said. 'We've had record outcomes at Mon Marion. We were recognized as the fastest emergency room in the state of West Virginia, Top 10 fastest in the country to be seen. We're going to bring that here to Harrison County.'
Community leaders joined Vandalia Health officials Wednesday at an empty field, a few hundred feet from Menards, and broke ground on the $30 million facility. Christopher Edwards, chief administrative officer of Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital at Middletown Commons and the future Mon Health Harrison, said the health care provider is aiming for a 2026 completion date. The facility is modeled after the one in White Hall.
Goldberg said the new facility will be a full service hospital, accredited by the centers for Medicare and Medicaid. It will have 10 private rooms for inpatient stay, and eight emergency room bays. The facility will be a full service hospital, and provide services such as CT, MRI, ultrasound, X-ray and cardiography. The two-story building will occupy 40,000 square feet. The second floor will be kept empty with an eye on future expansion as the need demands.
David Ramsey, president and CEO of Vandalia Health, said the new hospital will fill a need in the community.
'The community needs more access to care,' he said. 'When we survey individuals in this part of the state, it's about how can I get access in a timely fashion, and that's what we're going to create here for people. It's not a machine. It's not an assembly line.
'It's going to be individual care as individuals walk in. We're going to care for them as a person, as an individual and make sure they get what they need.'
Of note, is the fact that West Virginia University Medicine's United Hospital Center is just down the road, less than a mile away. Goldberg said the location wasn't their first choice. Initially they wanted to be a little further south or north from UHC. But a donation of three acres from the Genesis Partners, and the easy access to the highway, Vandalia Health ended up settling on its current location.
More broadly, Goldberg said they looked all around Harrison County for a good location, which would provide easy access to residents who live in the area. Vandalia Health also sought a location that had plenty of room to grow. The company worked with Charles Pointe and Harrison County Economic Development on the construction of the new facility.
The future hospital will also bring more jobs to the area. State Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said a new hospital means lots of health care jobs — from construction jobs during construction to janitorial jobs or accounting jobs once the hospital is complete. State Sen. Ben Queen, R-Harrison, said the new hospital represents an amazing investment in Bridgeport and Harrison County.
'I'm excited that this exit is now the health Mecca of our region, it's a big deal,' Queen said. 'Health care provides good incomes and we'll have to build bigger schools because you're going to keep more people here in our community.'
