MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University (WVU) Health System, Wheeling Hospital, and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston today formalized their agreement to make Wheeling Hospital a full member of the WVU Health System.
Wheeling Hospital will host an invitation-only event, which will also include medical staff and employees, to celebrate the occasion at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 9. (News media are also invited.)
The WVU Health System has operated Wheeling Hospital since June 2019 through a management services agreement with the Diocese. Both announced in September 2020 that the Hospital would join the Health System.
“This marks an important moment and milestone for Wheeling Hospital, the Diocese, and WVU Medicine,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System, said. “I am grateful to Bishop Mark Brennan for the trust he has put in us. Our commitment to the people of Wheeling and the surrounding area is to ensure this hospital remains an integral part of the community while remaining true to its core mission, values, and Catholic beliefs. We are excited to have the hospital join our Health System, and we will work hard to ensure it thrives as part of it.”
As a full member of the Health System, Wheeling Hospital will be part of a broad, integrated network of doctors, hospitals, clinics, and specialized institutes across West Virginia, Southwestern Pennsylvania, Western Maryland, and Ohio. Today, the WVU Health System, which operates under the brand “WVU Medicine,” has more than 20,000 employees; 2,815 providers; 22 member, managed, and affiliate hospitals; and more than 2.5 million patient visits annually.
As Wheeling Hospital joins the Health System, a new community Board of Directors will begin service in support of the Hospital. The Board members are:
- Bernard Twigg (Board Chair), Community Leader
- Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
- Mark Benson, M.D., President, Wheeling Hospital Medical Executive Committee
- Todd Clossin, President and CEO, WesBanco
- The Honorable Glenn F. Elliott, Jr., Mayor, City of Wheeling
- Kenneth Mason, Community Leader
- The Honorable Don Nickerson, Ohio County Commissioner
- Don Rigby, Community Leader
- Jessica Rine, Executive Director, United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley
- Thomas Wack, M.D., County Health Officer, Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health
- Albert L. Wright, Jr., President and CEO, West Virginia University Health System
- Douglass Harrison, CEO, Wheeling Hospital
“I’m excited about our new Board and the energy its members will bring as we chart a fresh and electrifying course for the Hospital, one that will lead to new programs, new investments, and new growth. We want to get the community jazzed about our Hospital and the future we plan for it,” Douglas Harrison, CEO of Wheeling Hospital, said.
The WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, WVU Medicine Children’s, and WVU Medicine Emergency Medicine already operate programs at Wheeling Hospital, and the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute opened a clinic at the hospital in late 2020. The WVU Cancer Institute is also actively working with Wheeling Hospital to open a clinic on its campus.
“I am very happy that the long and complicated process to affiliate Wheeling Hospital with the WVU Health System is coming to fruition. It will strengthen Wheeling Hospital in its fundamental mission to offer excellent healthcare to the people of the Northern Panhandle and continue to do so on the basis of the centuries-long experience of the Catholic Church in serving the sick and injured. This is a win-win situation, with WVU Medicine gaining a major hospital in this area and Wheeling Hospital gaining access to staff and resources to enhance its services,” Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, said.
“I am grateful to Mr. Wright, Mr. Harrison, and the Wheeling Hospital and WVU Health System Boards of Directors for their focused and respectful consideration of this project. May it prosper for the good of all who walk or are carried through the doors of Wheeling Hospital.”
Wheeling Hospital, founded in 1850, has served patients longer than any other hospital in West Virginia. Today, it is a 223-bed acute care facility with a medical staff of nearly 300 primary care and specialty physicians.