WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital CEO Doug Harrison announces plans to bring a small format hospital to St. Clairsville. (T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA)

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital CEO Doug Harrison announced that the hospital has aggressive plans to develop a small-format hospital in St. Clairsville.

During the St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards dinner, at which WVU Medicine was the title sponsor, Harrison said that the project is pending the hospital board’s approval in April.

“We are extremely excited to make this over $50 million investment into Belmont County. We are extremely excited about this opportunity and what it means to create more access for the residents of Belmont County in this Ohio market,” Harrison said. “That is pending board approval, which we believe we will get. We will start construction and we have an aggressive timeframe to have that up and running. We’re looking at about 16 months that we will have that hospital up and running. So we are extremely excited about this announcement.”

He added that WVU Medicine’s commitment to the region isn’t defined by state lines.

“That is just a river that runs between us. How we define it is, do patients have access to high-quality care, and can we get them into an integrated clinical system to make sure that they get the care they receive at the right time, the right location, and we are committed to that excellence in patient care,” Harrison said. “You will see Wheeling Hospital continue to transform itself. You will see WVU Medical Center continue to transform itself and offer more and more services. Our commitment is local health care, local health care. We want to be the leader in defining local health care.”

He added that four years ago WVU Medicine purchased roughly 40 acres of property near the Ohio Valley Mall, and – pending the board’s approval – it will be the new home of the small-format hospital.