photo by: Derek Redd

Plans for the new Orchard Park Hospital have been over two years in the making.

WHEELING — Orchard Park Hospital, a recently opened acute child and adolescent psychiatric care facility, remains open despite what the hospital termed “a small number of employees” leaving the facility.

In a statement Friday evening, the hospital said it is open, staffed with professionals, and continues to treat patients while training incoming employees. The hospital officially opened its doors on Sept. 25.

Orchard Park CEO Jacquelyn Knight said Friday evening that three nurses had resigned from the staff, but there were 10 staff members still on the roster.

“We have our nurses, our therapists, our (mental health technicians),” Knight said. “We have been actively recruiting and hiring this whole time of being open just to get our other units open. We have staff to care for patients.”

Patients at Orchard Park Hospital are young and most have endured significant trauma, Knight said. The care that is needed for those children can be emotionally demanding.

“It is a challenging job working with high acuity kids,” Knight said. “And a lot of folks might not have that psychiatric experience. It’s not a job for everyone and that’s understandable. That comes with any role. It has to be the best fit for the employee and employer.”

There will be one temporary change for the hospital during the holidays, the statement read. Orchard Park will not take any new patient referrals until after the holiday season to ensure that current staff are able to take their planned vacations.

Knight said there are currently five patients at Orchard Park and most of them will soon be discharged after meeting their goals.

“We’re going to utilize the time to give our employees a break, do some additional training and continue onboarding with some other folks we’ve just hired in the past few weeks,” Knight said.

Knight said there are a handful of folks in the background check process and interviews have been conducted with some promising candidates.”

The 30-bed psychiatric hospital provides acute mental health care for children and teens in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It resides in the former Robert C. Byrd Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Center on Eoff Street, next to the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus.

The Byrd Center closed in September 2019 in conjunction with the closure of OVMC. It was announced in April 2022 that the Children’s Home of Wheeling would fill the gap by creating Orchard Park Hospital in its place.

Knight said she feels good about how things have been going during the opening months of the young hospital.

“I’m very optimistic with how things are going,” Knight said. “There will always be room for improvement with everything with patient care, and quality of service is our top commitment. So we’re always looking for ways to improve.”