BELLAIRE — At least one Village Council member believes Bellaire residents need better access to emergency medical care.

Councilman Jerry Fisher spoke near the end of Monday’s council meeting, raising questions about the former Belmont Community Hospital.

The facility was owned and operated for several years by Wheeling Hospital, which later became part of the WVU Medicine system.

Closed since April 2019, BCH has mostly sat empty after more than 100 years of service to the community.

The exception is one private company that occupies parts of the building.

Fisher has the impression that Wheeling Hospital made a commitment to the community when it discontinued services at the Bellaire site, but a hospital representative said that was not the case.

“When Wheeling Hospital shut down Bellaire Hospital, I think they made a committment that they were going to put an emergency room there and an X-ray there that we would still have in Bellaire here that we could use, but they didn’t do it,” Fisher said during the Monday meeting. “They didn’t put anything there.”

Contacted Tuesday, a spokesperson for WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital disupted Fisher’s comments, saying there were no promises made when Wheeling Hospital decided to close the doors of the Bellaire facility.

“That was never a condition of the closure or the sale of the building,” the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, said.

Although declining further comment about BCH, the spokesperson did point out that WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital does operate the Bellaire Health Center, located at 3000 Guernsey St. in the village. That center is open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and can be reached at 740-676-4623. It offers an array of services including a pharmacy, radiology and therapy, as well as a choice of primary care physicians.

Before the Monday meeting adjourned, several ideas about health care in the community were tossed around. Fisher suggested reaching out to Dr. John Johnson, the owner of East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry which recently reopened its doors after being closed for a year and a half.

Also contacted Tuesday, EORH Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Bernie Albertini said he had not been contacted by anyone from Bellaire Village Council. He added that as of now, EORH is not looking into expanding its acute care hospital system.

During the discussion held at the council meeting, Fisher acknowledged the village doesn’t need a large hospital but said he felt that a facility with five to 10 beds, an emergency department and an X-ray room would be sufficient. He said Bellaire residents have to go either to Martins Ferry or Wheeling for emergencies.

Councilman Mike Doyle suggested it might be best to put together a group of investors to install an urgent care facility in the village.

“You’d have a lot more success doing that as opposed to going against something they’ve already deemed a dead horse,” Doyle said.

The former Belmont Community Hospital building, though, is not entirely empty. It has one tenant, Neurobehavirol Medicine Consultants. Dr. Ali Melhem, CEO, spoke with The Times Leader on Tuesday. He said the company occupies portions of all three floors and offers outpatient, residential and day programs as a comprehensive psychiatric service.

“We’re one of the largest providers of behaviioral health services in the area,” he said.

The firm does have plans to expand. Mehlem said the company is looking to add more beds for the Ascend program, a “substance use and co-occurring disorders treatment center,” according to its website.