WHEELING — Between the petals floating in the breeze and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra providing some background music, the atmosphere at the hospital was an upbeat one Friday afternoon.

The beautiful day emphasized the words of the keynote speakers who gathered to share a message of cooperation between WVU Medicine, Wheeling Hospital and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

Hospital staff and community members gathered to celebrate the partnership between the hospital and the health system, which officially began April 1.

U.S. Representative David McKinley said the partnership provided a welcome sense of hope, after a particularly desperate year.

“I think what they’re doing is they’re providing us hope. That’s what’s needed so much in this country, and in our valley — something that’s not a false premise,” McKinley, R-W.Va., said. “It’s something we can count on, and WVU gives us the basis for that.”

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., added that Wheeling Hospital’s long tradition of local health care will be enhanced through the partnership with WVU Medicine, including the telehealth programs, which allow remote assistance to be provided on a variety of health issues to first responders and other medical personnel.

“One of the things that came forward in this year, I think, that will probably be with us forever is the increased usage of telehealth,” Capito said. “The ability to connect in Wheeling or Glen Dale with Morgantown, or other areas that have the specialists, that we need to advance the knowledge and the curing of so many people here in a rural state, where we don’t have the specialists everywhere.

“But nothing can replace the healing hand of a facility such as this, that has such a breadth in the community. … As far as we move with telehealth, we’re still going to need out first responders, we’re still going to need our ER doc, making sure that he or she is rising to the occasion, … and we’re still going to need the caring hearts that I see every time I come to this facility.”

McKinley went on to say that he hopes the hospital’s partnership with the health system will help tackle an ongoing problem the Ohio Valley continues to grapple with, but which the COVID-19 pandemic has overshadowed — the drug epidemic.

“We’ve got to make sure, as we come out of COVID, that we don’t forget we’ve got a drug use problem,” he said. “Last year we had 800,000 people die from COVID, but we had 80,000 people die from a drug overdose. We can’t forget those other individuals. I thank you for what you’re doing, and let’s just make sure that our healthcare system, we take care of people who desperately need our help.”

Bishop Mark Brennan gave an opening and closing invocation, as well as speaking of the two-way street that the partnership is, between WVU Medicine and the Catholic church through Wheeling Hospital. The church brings its own long line of medical expertise, including providing around 26 percent of all health care worldwide, with 5,500 hospitals, 16,000 specialized facilities, and 18,000 clinics under its jurisdiction.

“Twenty-six percent of all health care in the world, two-thirds of it in developing countries, reflecting our sense of the Lord’s commands to go to the poorest and neediest in the world,” Brennan said. “Catholic health care is noted for the generous care it provides to the neediest and the poorest. Its religious and ethical directives embody wisdom from the ancient world, right through to today, that guide medical practice.”

West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee spoke briefly, describing the Wheeling area as a “sliver” between Ohio and Pennsylvania, but a sliver where humanity resides, and great people, as well.

“We needed to be able to have the ability to rally around the future of this valley, and we’re doing that,” Gee said.

The event concluded with a flag raising, flying the WVU Medicine flag out front with the others. The flag was raised by retired Wheeling hospital employee and COVID-19 survivor Joyce McWhorter. She contracted COVID in April 2020, spending almost a month in Wheeling Hospital’s ICU on a ventilator, before undergoing two months of rehabilitation. During the nearly three months, McWhorter decided to retire after nearly 39 years in the field.

Afterwards, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott described the partnership between WVU Medicine and Wheeling Hospital as “a perfect fit,” and one which has been a long time coming, which will greatly benefit the region.

“What we’re seeing today is a great partnership,” Elliott said, “a highly respected institution coming into Wheeling, and with our relationship with the Diocese, that works for both interests. I think it’s going to be a great attribute for Wheeling, and I’m looking forward to working with them.”