West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee, right, talks to new President and Chief Executive Officer of WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital Candace Miller, right, Friday afternoon in the waiting area of a new $35 million expansion of the hospital that opened in June. Gee was given a tour of the two-story new wing. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)
RIPLEY — WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital had a chance to show off its new $35 million wing Friday afternoon.
West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee came to Jackson General to visit its leadership team, including new President and Chief Executive Officer Candace Miller, and to take a tour of the hospital’s new $35 million expansion that opened in June.
According to a WVU Medicine media release, the expansion is a new two-story wing, with the first floor being comprised of a new emergency department with 14 private rooms including two triage rooms, two trauma rooms, a decontamination room and mental health rooms all on the first floor and a new surgical department with 12 pre/post/anesthesia bays, two operating suites that have new DaVinci Xi robotic surgery technology, and two procedure rooms.
The release said the second floor of the new wing includes an inpatient/swing unit with 18 private rooms, four of which can be converted into crucial care rooms if needed, a three-chair patient infusion area and a rehabilitation room.
According to the release, the wing also has a third floor that houses a mechanical penthouse.
Pictured is a trauma room that is part of a new $35 million wing at WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital that opened in June. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)
The release said the new wing started treating patients on June 5.
The first part of Gee’s day was spent with Miller and other leaders at Jackson General.
Miller started as the new Jackson General president and chief executive officer on July 15 and replaced previous CEO and president Stephanie McCoy, who served for 13 years and is now retired, according to a WVU Medicine media release.
The release said Miller worked at OhioHealth in Columbus in various leadership roles and is a native and resident of Mason County, W.Va.
“It’s been amazing,” Miller said of her first two weeks at Jackson General. “I’m having a blast.”
Pictured is a room in which patients receive physical therapy on the second floor of a new $35 million wing that opened in June at WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)
She said she is humbled and blessed to be working in her home state now and in her community.
“What I want to do is take the great work that the team has already done to build this beautiful facility and let people know we’re here, we’re ready to take care of them,” Miller said of her plans for the hospital. “We’re going to give them excellent, quality care. I’ve said sometimes it feels like we’re a best kept secret, so getting the word out and letting people know that we’re here to take good care of them.”
Miller showed off the new expansion to Gee and during the tour Gee saw the waiting area of the new wing, a trauma room, one of the new surgical department rooms on the second floor and more.
“I can tell you this is state of the art,” Gee said during the tour when he saw one of the new surgical department rooms,
He said you can find rooms like it at the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic. Gee also stopped and talked to several employees during the tour.
WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital opened a new $35 million two-story wing in June that includes a new emergency department. Pictured is the entrance to the new emergency department and the rest of the wing. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)
He said he usually tries to visit all 55 West Virginia counties and WVU Medicine now has 25 hospitals, so he wanted to make certain to celebrate health care this year.
“We now as the WVU Health system can provide high quality, great health care to every citizen in West Virginia, and I think that that was a goal when I came 10 years ago,” Gee said. “It is now reached. No person needs to leave West Virginia to get great health care. No child needs to leave West Virginia to get great health care.”
Both Gee and Miller said they are proud of the new wing at Jackson general.
Gee said he was WVU President from 1980-1985 and he didn’t understand the health care issues then.
“But now to see what we’re doing in terms of health care in the state, what we’re doing in terms of education — you know the university is the largest employer in the state, we provide the economic vitality for the state — but health care, and I was just saying this to Candace (Miller) and her team, health care is the tentpole on which West Virginia will rest,” he said.
Pictured is a patient bathroom that is attached to one of 18 new private inpatient/swing bed unit patient rooms that is part of the new $35 million two-story wing at WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital that opened in June. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)
Gee said once there is great health care in the state then great jobs, great education and prosperity can be created and that is what he is most proud of.
“I am extremely proud,” Miller said of the expansion. “I’m proud that it’s in my community. I’m proud of the work that the team did … I get to reap the benefits of sharing the good news to our community.”
The expansion at Jackson General is not the only investment WVU Medicine has made in West Virginia. According to Gee, they just announced they are investing another $400 million in health care in West Virginia.
“Take a look at this facility, I walked in … you can just tell that people are very proud to have a health facility that is worthy of the people of this community,” he said.
Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com
Patients sit in the waiting area of the new $35 million wing of WVU Medicine Jackson General Hospital. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)
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