WHEELING, W.Va — At the recent WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital Children’s Gala, CEO Douglass Harrison announced plans to develop a WVU Medicine Children’s outpatient pediatric center at Wheeling Hospital.
With the opening of the new WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital in Morgantown in 2022, the charge now comes down to the individual regional hospitals to reimagine pediatric care, with Wheeling Hospital leading the way with an $8 million local investment.
The new outpatient clinic will be on the first floor of the former Continuous Care Center, on the opposite side of the main parking lot from Wheeling Hospital.
This center will be a convenient for parents and children alike, as there will no longer be a need to navigate the main hospital with strollers, diaper bags, and sick kids in tow.
“Having street access is actually really nice. I’m a mom and I’ve had to navigate a hospital with a carrier with a sick kid. It’s nice to have that street level access where you can take your child right into the appointment, right into the room and be seen right away.”
Jessica Rine, Associate Vice President of Foundation and Community Relations, WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital and Reynolds Memorial Hospital
Access is street level and will have separate entrances for “sick kids” and “well kids. There will also be extended “after hours” so children can be seen by a pediatrician outside of normal business hours.
“WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital has been a leader in pediatric care for many years, investing in outpatient pediatric physicians to serve our community and investing in an inpatient pediatric unit when Tower 5 was built several years ago.” Says Douglass Harrison. “Now the time has come for us to be a leader again and transform pediatric care in our region with a new state-of-the-art outpatient pediatric center.”
One of the most significant new features will be the specialty unit, where children can be seen by doctors from WVU Children’s Hospital in Morgantown locally in Wheeling. Specialists will come to Wheeling on a weekly basis to serve kids with more specific needs, avoiding the trip to and from Morgantown for those families.
“The specialty care part of this hospital will be great for parents. We have doctors at WVU Medicine Children’s in Morgantown that will be coming up here to the Ohio Valley to see patients eliminating some of that transportation barrier.”
Jessica Rine, Associate Vice President of Foundation and Community Relations, WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital and Reynolds Memorial Hospital
With the announcement of the pediatric outpatient clinic also comes the capital campaign to raise money for it. If you’d like to learn more or donate, visit wvumedicine.org/wheeling and click on the Medical Park Foundation tab.
