WHEELING — The first step in fundraising for the new WVU Medicine Children’s outpatient clinic was provided by the Ann Sonneborn Charitable Foundation through a $3000,000 donation administered by WesBanco Trust and Investment Services.

The facility will be the pediatric base for WVU Medicine in the northern region of the state.

The “ultimate goal” of the clinic is to provide families access to care at a local level so they will “never have to leave the state for treatment,” outlined Douglass Harrison, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals.

The new facility will be located on the first floor of the repurposed former Continuous Care Center on the opposite side of the main parking lot from WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. Hospital staff are currently working with architects and engineers to see what can be put in the building.

With a hefty price tag of $11 million, Harrison explained construction will begin when the WVU Medicine Children’s outpatient clinic campaign has raised half of that amount.

The location will house a specialty clinic that will bring doctors from WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital in Morgantown to Wheeling to see local families.

Apart from saving families a potential trip to Morgantown for treatment, families will no longer have to navigate through the main hospital with strollers, diapers and sick kids. Access to the center will be at street level along with two separate entrances for “sick kids” and “well kids” to prevent the spread of germs between families.

The facility will also have imaging and lab capabilities, a feature Harrison is particularly excited to provide to families.

“When parents come into the hospital now and visit their pediatrician, if they have to get imaging or an X-ray done, we have to send them downstairs to the imaging department or lab,” explained Harrison. “Now, everything will be under one roof, making treatment much more accessible for the child and parent.”

The facility’s after-hours clinic will “keep kids in school and parents at work,” noted Jessica Rine, Associate Vice President of Community Relations and The Medical Park Foundation. Pediatricians at the center will be able to see children outside regular business hours at the parents’ convenience.m

To begin fundraising with a milestone contribution from the Ann Charitable Donation was “truly gratifying,” Harrison added.

“We’re extremely excited about the facility and very grateful for the donation,” he said. “It truly means a lot to kick this fundraising off in such a meaningful way.”

The Ann Sonneborn Charitable Foundation makes annual donations for the benefit of the community, and has set up policies and procedures for taking funding applications with the assistance of Wesbanco Trust and Investment Services.

Attorney James C. Gardill, managing member at Phillips, Gardill, Kaiser & Altmeyer assisted in qualifying the trust as a perpetual foundation. He explained the two principal purposes of the trust are to serve women and children as well as provide assistance and support to them and their community. The foundation’s gift to the pediatric center “fits into both purposes” of the fund, Gardill said, adding the foundation seeks to provide “long-term benefits” to the valley.

For Harrison, the trust has demonstrated what “community is all about” by giving back to the valley to enrich the lives of others. He hopes the new clinic will enrich the lives of families in the area in the same way.

“Our mission is to have access to pediatrics for kids throughout the state, so you’ll continue to see partnerships and collaboration from us revolving around pediatric care in the area” added Harrison. “Our ultimate goal in this journey to building a new hospital is that kids that were once leaving the state in droves for care now have access to treatment at a local level.