Photo by Derek Redd Wheeling Hospital now bears new signage showing it is part of WVU Medicine. That agreement, announced last year, became official Thursday.

WHEELING — There’s a new look at Wheeling Hospital, yet what remains is a devotion to keeping the Ohio Valley healthy.

Wheeling Hospital officially joined WVU Medicine on Thursday, becoming part of a health care system that includes hospitals in Morgantown, Glen Dale, New Martinsville, Barnesville, Cadiz and several other sites.

“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 in a university release. “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,” he added. “We are excited to have the hospital join our Health System, and we will work hard to ensure it thrives as part of it.”

WVU Medicine started changing out exterior signage at Wheeling Hospital last week in preparation for today. The WVU Health System has operated Wheeling Hospital since June 2019, when it signed an operation agreement with the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

The two entities announced in September 2020 that Wheeling Hospital would join the Health System on April 1, 2021.

With this move, the hospital joins a network of hospitals, clinics and specialized institutes throughout West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland and Ohio. The plan for Wheeling Hospital, according to Wheeling Hospital CEO Douglass Harrison, is for it to be the tertiary hub to Ruby Hospital’s main hub. WVU Medicine wants to keep patient care as local as possible, he said, so Wheeling will be able to provide more advanced services to patients from hospitals like Reynolds Memorial, Barnesville and Wetzel County.

“If the patient needs something high-end, they’ll come to Wheeling first,” Harrison said. “If we can’t handle it, we’ll transition them to Morgantown. Then Morgantown treats what the acute episodic need is and then sends that patient back to the local community for follow-up care.

The hospital also announced its new board of directors: Chair Bernard Twigg; the Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston; Dr. Mark Benson, President of the Wheeling Hospital Medical Executive Committee; Todd Clossin, Wesbanco President and CEO; Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott; Kenneth Mason; Ohio County Commissioner Don Nickerson; Don Rigby; Jessica Rine, Executive Director of the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley; Dr. Thomas Wack, County Health Officer, Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health

Albert L. Wright, Jr., President and CEO, West Virginia University Health System; Wright and Harrison.

“I am very happy that the long and complicated process to affiliate Wheeling Hospital with the WVU Health System is coming to fruition,” Brennan said in the release. “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.”

Wheeling Hospital will hold an invitation-only event, to include medical staff and employees, at 1 p.m. April 9 to celebrate the occasion.