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BUCKEYE, W.Va. — The first phase of work on the anticipated expansion of Pocahontas Memorial Hospital is underway.
Andrew Bair, CEO of Pocahontas Memorial Hospital told MetroNews that conversations started to expand and renovate the hospital built in 1995 began in 2018.
“It’s served its purpose and it’s still working. However, some of the spaces are cramped as you can imagine. Healthcare isn’t the same today as it was then,” Bair said.
The expansion project includes a new rural health clinic; modernized and additional patient rooms; expansions to the cardio-pulmonary/respiratory and x-ray units; and new units to provide mammography, nuclear medicine, and stress testing.
Bair said one of the high priorities was to bring new physician office space to create additional privacy with patient registration.
“It’s difficult working conditions for our staff and for our patients to be seen,” Bair said.
The project will be funded primarily through a $5.7 million USDA loan approved by the Pocahontas County Commission on June 28. In addition, the hospital secured a $1 million gift from benefactors, Joe and Peg Greenlee.
Bair said the hospital is still $5 million short of the completion of the entire project which would include the second phase of emergency room improvements, loading docks, and an inpatient pharmacy.
Bair said it’s important to keep the hospital up-to-date and running because it would turn into a ‘health desert’ without the hospital.
“We’re an hour from Greenbrier Medical Center, an hour and a half from Elkins. That’s on a good day. There are days when it is not safe to travel on the road in this part of the state,” he said.
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