MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In January, Grant Memorial Hospital (GMH) in Petersburg broke ground on a new nine-patient oncology infusion center to offer a more expanded and sophisticated program of cancer services through a collaborative agreement with the WVU Cancer Institute to improve healthcare in the area.
“As the academic medical center of the state’s land-grant university, we have a responsibility to ensure that patients throughout West Virginia have access to high quality healthcare close to home,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System, said. “Through this new collaboration with GMH, we can help to ensure that cancer patients in the Grant County area will not have to travel great distances to find the treatment they need.”
GMH is a 25-bed, not-for-profit critical access facility that is supported by more than 365 employees and medical staff and serves the valley of the Potomac Highlands, including Grant, Hardy, Pendleton, Hampshire, and Mineral counties.
“This is exciting news for our entire region. Today, patients may have to drive at least an hour and half one-way for chemotherapy treatments and outpatient cancer care. Soon, they will be able receive that same care closer to home right here on the GMH campus,” Bob Milvet, GMH CEO, said. “I am particularly proud of the opportunity to collaborate with the WVU Cancer Institute to help make this dream possible for our community.”
The new center will include a dedicated entrance and pharmacy. It is slated for completion in late summer or early fall.
“We are pleased to add another service at Grant Memorial Hospital with the addition of cancer care services in our community, eliminating the need for patients to travel for this type of specialty care. Collaborating with the WVU Cancer Institute will provide the same level of care in Petersburg that patients receive in other WVU Medicine facilities,” Tammy Kesner, chair of the GMH Board of Trustees, said. “It is the desire of the Board of Trustees to ensure the families of Grant County and the surrounding areas have easy access to quality healthcare and needed services.”
Over the past several years, the WVU Cancer Institute has broadened its outreach and established collaborative partnerships with several West Virginia hospitals to expand access to specialized and subspecialized cancer care to West Virginians.
“Our patients are at the core of everything we do, and we know that a cancer diagnosis not only takes its toll on the patient but on their families, too. It is our responsibility to ease some of that burden by bringing outpatient oncology services closer to their homes,” Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, M.D., director of the WVU Cancer Institute, said.
“While advanced imaging and treatment, like surgeries, may require patients to travel to our flagship campus in Morgantown or one of our larger regional sites, these new locations will allow patients to receive care like chemotherapy infusions, which often require multiple visits during a week or month, to be delivered locally. As a result, the financial burden, time commitment, and stress of having to travel for treatment is alleviated for the patient and family, and that is what is most important to us.”
For more information on the WVU Cancer Institute, visit WVUMedicine.org/Cancer.
About the West Virginia University Health System
The West Virginia University Health System, West Virginia’s largest health system and largest private employer, is comprised of 13 hospitals – its flagship hospital, J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown and Fairmont Medical Center in Fairmont; Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg; Braxton County Memorial Hospital in Gassaway; Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg; Jackson General Hospital in Ripley; Jefferson Medical Center in Ranson; Potomac Valley Hospital in Keyser; Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale; St. Joseph’s Hospital in Buckhannon; Summersville Regional Medical Center in Summersville; Uniontown Hospital in Uniontown, Pennsylvania; United Hospital Center in Bridgeport; and Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville. It also provides management services to Barnesville Hospital in Barnesville, Ohio; Garrett Regional Medical Center in Oakland, Maryland; Harrison Community Hospital in Cadiz, Ohio; Princeton Community Hospital in Princeton; and Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling. The WVU Health System also includes five institutes – the WVU Cancer Institute, the WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute, the WVU Eye Institute, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, and the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. For more information, visit WVUMedicine.org.