By U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., Coal Valley News
Rural hospitals are indispensable to the health of 46 million people in America. Many are fighting for their very existence. A hundred rural hospitals closed and nearly a hundred more have converted to exclusively emergency or outpatient care since 2005, according to a University of North Carolina study.
In southern West Virginia, a different story is unfolding. Showing the resilience that is so much a part of our state, the new Williamson Memorial in Mingo County recently was licensed to operate as a 76-bed general hospital. That represents a turnaround rarely seen in the complicated world of rural health.
When Williamson Memorial Hospital shuttered in spring 2020, Williamson Health & Wellness Center stepped in and purchased the facility. The leadership and staff have of Williamson Health & Wellness Center have worked tirelessly since to bring back Williamson Memorial.
That effort required the investment of millions of dollars in public and private money to renovate the facility, which included a full overhaul of the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; the refurbishing of the air quality system; revamping the medical gas system; updating the electrical system; asbestos abatement; the addition of state-of-the-art medical equipment; and so much more.
