From left, Rob Fisher, Steve Westfall, Stephanie McCoy, Carl Overmiller, MD, and Albert L. Wright Jr. break ground Friday on the new hospital wing of the Jackson General Hospital in Ripley. (Photo by James Dobbs)

RIPLEY — Elected officials, locals and hospital staff gathered at Jackson General Hospital in Jackson County on Friday to witness a groundbreaking ceremony for a new hospital wing.

“This construction project has been in progress for the past several years and truly today is a historic event,” said Stephanie McCoy, president and CEO of WVU Medicine JGH.

McCoy said how proud she was to share their vision of modern healthcare on Friday. She said the vision would not have been possible without the forward thinking, selfless resolve and stubborn perseverance of the JGH Board of Directors and the JGH leadership and care team.

“We embarked on a journey to join the West Virginia University Health System in 2018 and since then we have been on an excellent journey to not only be a great place for care within a world class health care network, but also to be a great place to work,” she said. “We joined a partner who shared our vision for excellence in patient care, shared our desire to be the healthcare provider of choice for our community and shared our vision to modernize our hospital.”

McCoy said the first floor of the new wing was designed to include a new emergency department with 14 private rooms, which include two triage rooms, two trauma rooms, a decontamination room and a mental health room. It will also include a new 12-bay surgical department, with two large operating suites and two procedure rooms. The second floor features inpatient/swing-beds and has 18 private rooms with private bathrooms, a three-chair infusion area and a rehabilitation room.

Stephanie McCoy, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital, spoke during the groundbreaking event Friday outside of JGH in Ripley. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Rob Fisher, JGH Board of Directors chair, has served on the board for over 30 years and has been the chair for the past eight. Fisher said the JGH board came up with a 50-year plan to continue caring for its patients and the community. The board’s plan was to make sure it had a steady stream of providers, to make sure it was financially stable and to solve the problem of a “shot” hospital. Fisher said the plan led to a merger with WVU Medicine.

“Today we’re going to put some shovels in that ground and we’re going to start putting on this new wing to the tune of $30 million bucks,” he said. “This is really a big deal for Jackson County. This guarantees there’s a hospital in 50 years…”

Carl Overmiller, MD, JGH medical staff, has been working at the hospital since 2010. He said the merger has given JGH new opportunities and services that it didn’t have access to before. He said medical students now video conference with the WVU Surgical Department to watch mortality, morbidity and their grand rounds. He said their computer systems have been upgraded, they have been given access to more medical records, to specialists and to telemedicine, among other upgrades.

Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of WVU Health System, has worked with WVU Medicine since August 2014. He said over the past eight years WVU Medicine has made two big accomplishments, increasing the size and scope of its academic medical center and converting that academic medical center to an academic health system.

“So what we have been doing, deliberately, methodically, over the last eight years, is partnering with community hospitals all around the state to create a population health footprint that allows us to simultaneously stabilize healthcare and local communities, hopefully improve health care in those local communities and build that network — so wherever you go in any WVU Medicine, physician clinic, urgent care, small hospital, medium hospital, big hospital, your records, your labs, your prescriptions, your images, physician progress notes, they all follow you everywhere you go,” he said. “We’ve got safer care, we’ve got more coordinated care, we’ve got more efficient care..”

Carl Overmiller, MD, WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital medical staff member, explained what the merger has done for JGH at the event in Jackson County. (Photo by James Dobbs)

The $30 million project will be funded through a combination of cash reserves and bond financing, said a press release from WVU Medicine. Construction will take 16-20 months but will be dependent on materials/labor.

James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com.

Rob Fisher, WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital Board of Directors chair, shared an anecdote about the power of three and how that related to the three goals the board created for its 50-year-plan. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Steve Westfall, West Virginia State Delegate, spoke during the groundbreaking event outside of Jackson General Hospital in Ripley. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Attendees clap during the groundbreaking ceremony outside of Jackson General Hospital in Jackson County on Friday. (Photo by James Dobbs)