ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Trinity Health System is planning a party of sorts to celebrate its one-year anniversary of opening its medical clinic in St. Clairsville.

The event is slated from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Trinity Health System St. Clairsville Medical Plaza, located at 106 and 109 Plaza Drive. During their visit, people can purchase pizza on site from the Wood Fire Pizza Co.’s food truck, listen to music and take a tour of the facility.

Trinity Health System decided to expand its medical services beyond its Steubenville base of operations following the closure last fall of East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry and its related clinic in St. Clairsville.

Belmont Community Hospital, formerly operated by Wheeling Hospital, in Bellaire also had closed recently. Because of this Trinity decided to also open a clinic office in Bellaire at the Imperial Plaza. The Bellaire clinic opened its doors for business last December.

Labishak said in addition to the food truck, there will also be music by Jule Carenbauer and a live radio broadcast from the site with Johnny O.

“We want the community to know that we are committed to providing care in the county and we are excited about how well the plaza location has been received by the community,” she said.

“Community is extremely important to our ministry, and we want to meet folks who live and work in the Belmont Country community and hear from them about the services currently being offered at this location and Bellaire and how we can continue to serve the area.”

Labishak said the St. Clairsville clinic’s patient volumes have “exceeded expectations.”

“The community has embraced our services and providers and the numbers continue to increase. We do have capacity for more patients,” she said. “Our providers are busy as are our ancillary services, physical therapy, laboratory and radiology; however, we can always expand hours and staffing to accommodate increased volumes if necessary. We want to serve the needs of the community – that is our mission.”

EORH once owned and operated the St. Clairsville clinic, located on Plaza Drive. But along with the main EORH building, the clinic closed as well. Trinity came in and purchased the clinic and after a few weeks of work on the building reopened it. This included providing services for those suffering from Black Lung disease.

Last October, Matt Grimshaw, Trinity Health System president and CEO, said during a press conference that Trinity tried to negotiate a purchase of EORH from its then-owners Alecto Healthcare Services and Medical Properties Trust, but a deal could not be reached. EORH has since been bought by Dayton-area psychiatrist Dr. John Johnson, who plans to reopen the facility by the end of this year.

Much work is being done to get the hospital building ready following a year-long closure. A hiring event is expected to be announced in the future.