MARTINS FERRY — East Ohio Hospital LLC announced Monday that Bernie Albertini will serve as chief operating officer of the former East Ohio Regional Hospital.

East Ohio Hospital LLC recently acquired the Martins Ferry property. The hospital was closed in Spetember by its former owner, Alecto Healthcare Services of California, which also closed Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling.

Albertini is a native of Wheeling and no stranger to healthcare in the Ohio Valley. He had a 20-year career at both EORH/OVMC, where he most recently served as chief administrative officer at EORH. He returns to the Ohio Valley after serving as the COO at Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

He has served as a member of the board of directors for the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley, St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce, vice president of Ohio Valley Breast Cancer Awareness Inc., and was honored as the Ohio-Marshall County Pharmacist of the Year in 2010. “I am very excited to return to the Ohio Valley and to help lead the reopening of the former East Ohio Regional Hospital. From the time the hospital was founded by Dr. Wilson in 1906, community-based care has been at the heart of our tradition of healing. The outpouring of community support and excitement for this announcement has been nothing short of incredible,” Albertini said.

East Ohio Hospital LLC is owned and operated by Dr. John Johnson, a resident of Ohio and a board-certified psychiatrist, according to a statement released by attorney Michael S. Garrison. Over the last 35 years, Johnson has started, acquired, and grown a variety of healthcare organizations that he continues to own and operate, including one of Ohio’s largest independent behavioral health centers, Access Ohio, and a 110-bed in-patient psychiatric hospital, Access Hospital. outside Dayton, Ohio. He also owns and operates primary care centers, substance abuse and residential treatment facilities, and telemedicine and healthcare technology enterprises.

East Ohio Hospital LLC is working with state and local government to reopen the hospital campus in Martins Ferry later this year. The Ohio-based operator is committed to returning localized and personal medical care to the residents of Belmont County and the surrounding communities, the statement notes.