SPENCER, W.Va. — Even with closures of hospitals and healthcare facilities around the state in recent months, Roane General Hospital is looking to expand. CEO of the facility, Doug Bentz, said the formula is simple: bringing care close to home and expanding wellness.
On Thursday, the hospital will have a groundbreaking for a $22 million expansion and renovation project to kick off the hospital’s 50th-anniversary activities.
“Our residents, what we have realized is that they have embraced the fact we are bringing those specialists to our local hospital to provide those part-time services,” Bentz said. “That has allowed us to grow our services and provide more services locally.”
Bentz said those services began more six years ago when the hospital started hiring more part-time specialists for care such as out-patient chemotherapy. He said having outpatient services helped provide relief to local patients who in the past would have to drive long distances to Parkersburg and Charleston for care.
“Our goal is to provide additional services to the community, things we can do safely and effectively locally,” Bentz said. “We don’t want to kid ourselves and think we can be doing open-heart surgery here or cardiac catheterizations here, that’s not who we are.”
The 40,000 square feet to the hospital being celebrated on Thursday will help it meet community health needs for more outpatient and wellness services for the Roane, Clay, Calhoun, and Wirt counties.
Bentz said the hospital is starting a program called “Prescription for Your Health”, where a patient signs a health contract with a physician. The contract outlines how a patient can lead a healthier life. Through the program, a patient can access nutrition counseling, fitness, personal training, discount healthy café, and reducing physician office co-pays.
Services such as the newly remodeled fitness center will be free as long as the patient adheres by the contract
“Just having the bricks and motar and having those machines doesn’t necessarily lead to health. What we are trying to do is develop programs to incentivize and provide structure in the tools and resources necessary for that patient to start thinking about their health.”
Overall, Bentz said the hospital’s next chapter with the expansion of facilities and programs will be a team effort.
“We have care coordinators, we are going to have personal trainers. We are going to have a population health department and resources to help provide that education to the patient,” he said.