CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state got out of long-term care hospital business last year when it sold four facilities and licenses to a private company but the state is facing major maintenance issues with the three psychiatric hospitals that it continues to operate.
Health Facilities Secretary Michael Caruso is seeking funding for deferred maintenance at Welch Community Hospital in McDowell County, Sharpe Hospital in Weston and Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington.
It sounds like the 75-year-old Bateman building is in the worst shape.
“Your facility infrastructure is falling apart there,” Caruso told members of the House Finance Committee Friday. “The pipes are basically disintegrating (in the walls) there..so I need pipes to pump up water to get them to the top of the building to make sure we have heat and air conditioning for the residents there.”
Caruso is seeking $4.3 million for the deferred maintenance projects. Deputy Secretary Aaron Snodgrass told the committee that would be just enough to get by.
“The deferred maintenance list is simply to keep that hospital running and operating until something else can be done at that location,” Snodgrass said. “The deferred maintenance list at Bateman is much longer than this presentation.”
Caruso said the goal is to build a new hospital on the property at some point. He said when that would be done and what a new hospital would look like hasn’t been decided.
“There is no question that we’re going after a new facility. Please don’t misunderstand me, we need a new facility and we don’t need to throw money at the old one,” Caruso said.
Caruso said his office has a team that has visited a facility in Kentucky and will soon take a trip to North Carolina where one campus has a psychiatric hospital, transitional living and housing. He said that could be what a new Bateman would look like.
“It’s not going to be 10 years,” Caruso predicted. “We think we can have that plant up and ready to go with all of the approvals by this year’s time frame. We are not going to move like government.”
But for now, he said, they need structural improvements to keep the doors open.
“We really don’t have very many options if that facility shuts down. We carry about 80 to 85 patients in that facility. We really don’t have a whole lot of placement opportunities for them,” Caruso said.
Welch Community Hospital
Welch Community Hospital is a 55-bed facility but they only average about seven patients a day.
Caruso said the hospital averages 56,000 outpatient visits a year to the 40-year-old building.
“It’s very important that we provide services to the community,” Caruso told the finance committee. “We’re not sure we are in the correct model there. We are spending a lot of time with experts, talking with potential partners about where to go with Welch Community Hospital.”
Caruso is seeking $1 million in supplemental funding for parking lot and roof repairs and the purchasing of operating room equipment.
Sharpe Hospital
The Weston-based hospital is now 33-years-old.
Caruso is asking the legislature for $4.9 million to replace the windows, 180 security cameras and the carpet in the building.
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