T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Exactly one month after its grand opening and ribbon cutting Trinity Health System’s St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital is now seeing patients.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Exactly one month after it held its grand opening and ribbon cutting, Trinity Health System’s St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital officially opened Monday morning.

The new facility sits along U.S. 40 just east of Plaza West and is a two-story building that offers 10 emergency room beds, six inpatient beds, and radiology and laboratory suites.

Director of Operations Jamie Betts said that since the ribbon cutting, the neighborhood hospital has been working through its final processes and making sure that everything works appropriately, as well as completing the final stages of the hospital’s construction.

“Last week, we were able to bring all of the staff in and go through live training here at the facility,” Betts said. “We were able to work with mock patients and put those mock patients through our processes and systems, to make sure all of the systems are intact and working appropriately.”

He added that the hospital is now open 24/7 and will be available for emergency and inpatient care.

“We’ve already seen several patients, and have actually already admitted patients,” Betts said.

He added that although the hospital is officially open and able to see patients, the operating room will not be ready for another month due to ensuring all of the hospital’s systems are functioning properly.

Since last month’s ribbon cutting, the hospital has also discovered that more phones were needed for the reception staff and was able to accommodate that before Monday.

Betts said that with the new facility being a small, microhospital, a lot of the administrative team is shared with the Trinity West Hospital in Steubenville.

“For example, the Director of Emergency Services from Trinity West in Steubenville also is overseeing the emergency department here,” he said. “My role is to be the day-to-day leader that is on site every day for all of the staff within the facility, overseeing all of nursing, lab, security, maintenance, everything locally here.”

Betts added that a big part of his role at the neighborhood hospital is being a leader for all of the staff.

As St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital was under construction, East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry closed, leaving somewhat of a healthcare void in Belmont County. The only hospital operating in the county in the interim was WVU Medicine Barnesville Hospital.

“​​There’s definitely a gap to fill here in Belmont County. A lot of the staff, as well as myself, consider Belmont County home,” Betts said. “So making sure that those healthcare needs are met, I think, is very important, and it’s a very good thing that we’re here.”

During the grand opening, Dwayne Richardson, president and CEO of Twin City Medical Center, said that at the beginning of the journey to create the new facility, the plan was to have 40 to 50 ER visits per day. But officials are expecting more than that now, due to the closure of EORH.

Betts said that the new Trinity facility has roughly 60 staff members with physicians being present 24/7, as well as peak hours covered by an advanced practice provider or nurse practitioner.

St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman said she is ecstatic that the hospital is now open to the public.

“I hope that no one needs a hospital soon, but when you do, it is there to help you begin your healing journey,” Thalman said.

She added that she and the rest of the city’s employees have worked hard with Trinity to plan for the hospital to come to the city and couldn’t be happier that it has become a reality.

“Thank you, and God bless you to Trinity Health System,” Thalman said.