WVU Medicine opens rapid care center in St. Clairsville
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - WVU Medicine opened a new rapid care facility inside of its St. Clairsville Health Center Monday.
The new facility will operate weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital CEO Doug Harrison said the announcement comes off the heels of the new community hospital being built in St. Clairsville.
This past August, WVU Medicine broke ground on its $56 million inpatient hospital with a 24/7 emergency room, large outpatient practice, primary care, lab and subspecialty care.
"What we see are more and more utilization of rapid care and urgent care as people continue to use those services. Those centers became very very busy, and we did not have that presence here in Belmont County," Harrison said. "We had looked for almost two years in the market to develop a rapid care center, and then this space came open, and a lot of folks in Belmont County are already familiar with this location, so it just made sense for us to open the rapid care at this location."
He added the St. Clairsville Health Center has been a community staple for decades, being operated through Wheeling Hospital which WVU Medicine acquired in 2021.
Belmont County commissioner J.P. Dutton said the rapid care center is just another example of WVU Medicine making an investment in Belmont County.
"If we go back a few years ago, access to healthcare was a critical issue, and that will always be important. But if we’ve seen these investments here recently, it really is providing a lot more access for residents of Belmont County," Dutton said. "This facility has been providing healthcare to our residents for decades, so it’s natural for rapid care to be in this facility."
He added that the health center is a facility that so many individuals already use and are familiar with.
"Rapid care is such a huge part of healthcare these days, and to have another facility here is just tremendous," Dutton said. "I applaud WVU Medicine for investing in Belmont County, and I think it’s improvement for the quality of life of everyone in Belmont County to have additional access."
Harrison added that WVU Medicine has been wanting to put a rapid care center in St. Clairsville for years, despite the recent announcement of the new hospital coming to the city.
"We had wanted to put a rapid care in this market for a while, and we looked around the area at a number of different locations. When we relocated our physical therapy out of this building, it presented a perfect opportunity for us to redevelop this space into a rapid care," Harrison said. "People ask me why invest here when we’re building our new St. Clairsville Community Hospital, and the reason is because this center has been here for a long time. We believe that this area deserves great healthcare, and especially in a rapid care setting."
He added that WVU Medicine wants to continue to provide Belmont County resident's healthcare needs.
"We have a rapid care in Martins Ferry and we’re very very proud of it doing very well, and we wanted one in the St. Clairsville market," Harrison said.
He said Monday's grand opening is an investment into the community.
Harrison said WVU Medicine plans to keep the rapid care center open after the new community hospital is built.
"That will be an emergency room, and there’s a different level of care with a rapid care," Harrison said. "So what we try to do is educate folks on when it is appropriate to go to an emergency room or when it is appropriate to use rapid care or urgent care."
He added WVU Medicine is proud of the investments it's making in Belmont County and will continue to serve the community.