By Ainsley Hall, The Journal
MARTINSBURG — West Virginia University (WVU) Medicine Berkeley Medical Center broke ground on Tuesday on its new patient tower. This $260 million investment will add 135 private rooms for a total of 325, allowing the hospital to provide care for more patients. The new tower will have connecting bridges to the current building and will include more parking and a pedestrian bridge leading to the hospital.
People gathered at Medical Office Building 3 where the new parking lot will be built and where they broke ground during the ceremony. WVU Hospital East President and CEO Mark O’Hern kicked the event off by thanking everyone who played a part on the project. Several people spoke, including Chairman of WVU Hospitals East Board of Directors Scott Roach, Doctor Shalini Reddy, Patients Micah and Robert Summey, Mayor Kevin Knowles, Berkeley County Commission President Eddie Gochenour and WVU Health System President and CEO Albert Wright Jr.
O’Hern invited Micah and Robert Summey to come share their story. When Micah became very sick, his father Robert took him to Berkeley Medical Center which sent them to the Children’s Hospital in Morgantown. They learned that he had an aggressive form of cancer, and they spent many weeks traveling to Morgantown to get treatment.
“Cancer is like an intruder,” Micah said. “It doesn’t care who you are or what your experiences are. It comes in, uninvited, and it was a really hard thing to deal with, but the people at Morgantown, they made the experience so much brighter; they gave us so much hope.”
