photo by: Carri Graham

Bernie Albertini, chief operating officer of East Ohio Regional Hospital, stands inside the hospital’s new cath lab, which is set to open next week.

MARTINS FERRY — Following its recent two-year anniversary of reopening, East Ohio Regional Hospital officials are touting its progress and upcoming future services.

The hospital celebrated the milestone on Feb. 4, treating all staff members with free coffees from its in-house Starbucks shop.

Bernie Albertini, chief operating officer, said “things are going really well” as the hospital continues to expand its services.

“It’s gone better than we had hoped, honestly,” he said, adding that it has not been easy. “Health care in general is a challenge right now, but it’s been a good two years.”

Albertini credits the employees for the hospital’s success. He said many people took a risk to quit their jobs and come to work at the hospital when it first reopened on Feb. 4, 2021.

It and a sister facility, the former Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, were closed in Sept. 2019 by then-owner Alecto Healthcare Services of California. The Martins Ferry facility was later purchased and reopened by Dr. John Johnson.

Albertini said the hospital’s staff provides quality care, which is what it wants to be known for.

“People ask me all the time, ‘How are you going to compete with the bigger systems that are around us now?’ We’re just hanging our hat on good quality care, doing what we do. If you look at community hospitals across the country, they’re failing, they’re closing every day. But we’re just trying to figure out, which I think we’re doing a good job of, what’s our niche. We want to do what we do and do it really, really well and provide really good, quality customer service and take good care of our patients, and I truly think that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

Albertini wants to assure area residents that the hospital is doing well and will continue to provide health care to them.

He said the operating room numbers have risen every month since it reopened, even exceeding the volumes previously met when it was owned by Alecto.

“We’re here and things are good,” he said, adding that Johnson, owner and operator of the hospital, is a physician who understands patient care and is quality-care focused.

Albertini said the hospital now offers a number of new services. EORH unveiled its new Access Ohio 30-Day Residential Program for substance abuse and recovery in December, a program that accompanies its Medical Detox Program.

“It’s going well. We certainly need it in this area, sadly. … We’ve graduated several people from the program. It’s needed; it’s a horrible crisis we’re in,” he said.

Additionally, it has added a full suite to radiology to include MRI’s and CT scans.

“We’re seeing good, sustained growth. It’s been a good story. I’m very happy with where we’re at,” he said.

In March, it expanded operations to the Digestive Health Complex in St. Clairsville, which includes a physical therapy clinic.

The hospital also recently acquired a new ambulance to assist with patient transports.

Albertini said they have a lot of plans for the future. Beginning next week, the hospital will open its brand new cath lab for patients with cardiac issues. He said it has been a slow process due to delays experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic, but now it is finally ready to be unveiled.

Also, PARS Neurosurgical Associates Inc. of Parkersburg, West Virginia, will be providing its services in the coming weeks.

“They’re going to be doing some orthopedic spine procedures here. That will be huge. It’s something we’ve never done here before,” he said, adding that medical groups recently began administering pain injections and management to patients at the facility.

“It’s really needed. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with the opioid crisis. People have pain so they put them on a pill and they get hooked, versus if you can treat them with, basically it’s a shot in the back that numbs everything and treats the pain that way – interventional pain services,” he said.

Albertini said the hospital is always looking to hire nurses. Anyone interested in applying for a position at EORH can find a list of potential jobs at its website, eohospital.com/careers.