MARTINS FERRY — When Nancy Goff started working at East Ohio Regional Hospital in 1976, she was making about $2 per hour and nothing was computerized in her medical records department.

“I’ve gone through typewriters, handwritten notes, all the way to electronic records. I’ve seen a lot, but I was hoping to see a lot more,” Goff said. “We’re holding on to hope. It’s been a rewarding career.”

Goff, who lives in Martins Ferry, is referring to the closure of the facility last fall when it stopped admitting patients in September. There have been rumors about one or two groups trying to strike a deal with the hospital’s owner, Alecto Healthcare Services of Irvine, California, and the property owner, MPT of Alabama. No formal announcements have been made to date.

“Back in 1993 is when we entered the computer world. Before then everything was paper. We would go and pull records off the shelf when a patient would come in. … When I first started there I would have to go to a patient room and take a history. I would type it up on a card, and they would send it out on the floor to put on the record so the doctor could see all the history notes,” Goff said. “Now everything is electronic. We still have paper charts that we have to hold on to for at least 10 years. We were trying to get those digitized. Hopefully they will keep us around for those to get electronic.”

Goff said she has enjoyed her time at the hospital. She got to know just about everyone who worked there. She plans to stick it out until the end, or until a possible new beginning with a new owner.

“Yeah, it’s a roller coaster. You laugh and the next day you’re crying. There’s some anger there, too. It’s sad,” she said. “I was born in Martins Ferry Hospital, and I’ve worked my whole career here. I used to joke that in the end they can take me in a wheelchair to long-term care and let me finish up there.

“Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 43 years. Time just kind of flies. No one ever thought a hospital would close, but it’s happening all over the country,” she said.

Goff described the closures of EORH, Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and Belmont Community Hospital in Bellaire within a six-month period as a health care crisis for the Ohio Valley. She noted there are five people still working in medical records and one in the radiology department at EORH.

“We are doing our best to uphold the great service that all of the past (and present) employees of East Ohio Regional Hospital and Ohio Valley Medical Center provided to our communities,” she said. “We are committed to the end or, as I like to say, until the new beginning and beyond.”

Goff got her job fresh out of high school. She graduated from Bridgeport High in 1976. She had applied at different places, thinking she would spend some time working before deciding whether to attend college. A friend told her about the opening in the records department.

“We’re very close-knit. I knew about everybody in every department. I ended up working for a couple years, two days a week at OV. It was the same there. We were family. It was sad it had to happen,” she said of the closings. “Sometimes I think big business loses sight of what a hospital is all about, and insurance companies. There are so many reasons why they fail: reimbursements, and I think greed is in there, too.”

Like many hospital workers, Goff said she was never in it for the money, something she once joked about with an administrator.

“I remember telling an administrator that I like my job — I didn’t stay here for the pay, that’s for sure. Most do it because they love it,” she said.