November 21, 2025 • 36 mins
Marion County Schools Superintendent Donna Heston and President of the Board of Education calling for more support from state lawmakers for public education.
President and CEO ofMon Health & Executive Vice President of Vandalia Health David Goldberg on their plans for a new Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lewis County.
A preview of the Arise: Tree of Hope Remembrance Ceremony at the Cavalry Chapel Castle on December 6.
President and CEO ofMon Health & Executive Vice President of Vandalia Health David Goldberg on their plans for a new Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lewis County.
A preview of the Arise: Tree of Hope Remembrance Ceremony at the Cavalry Chapel Castle on December 6.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Call the show toll free at one eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two fivey five. Now Here is your
host for the Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
A good Friday morning, clouds and forty two degrees in
the city of Morgantown. Welcome to Talk of the Town.
I'm Mike Nolting producing the program. Today. We have Sophia Wassick.
You'll be able to get Sophia at eight hundred seven
six five eight two five five. And of course the
text line it is active ready for you. As a
(00:33):
matter of fact, right now that number three oh four
Talk three oh four out today. On the program, we're
going to dive into some issues regarding let's see where
do we go. Well, we'll come back to that in
just a moment. What I'd like for you to do
now is to head out to WAJR dot com because
(00:55):
it is a fifty percent Friday twenty five dollars will
get you fifty dollars worth of good food at I
Hop and to talk about I Hoop. We've got Jonathan
with us this morning. Jonathan, good morning, how are you so?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Good morning, sir, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
How about you? Hey, I'm doing great. Thank you very much. Okay,
now let's see ihop. When you buy these gift certificates
here at wajar dot com as a part of fifty
percent Friday, you can use them at Venture Drive Oakland
Street or in Bridgeport at the location on Jerrydve Drive. Now,
one of the things that I noticed in this set
(01:34):
of notes here, Jonathan, you've got six dollars entrees for breakfast.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, it's the listed praise. And then if we do
math here, let's see if we get the twenty five
gets you fifty, and then if you use the fifty
to get the six dollars, economy meals that's three dollars right.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
That's exactly why we brought Jonathan in this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hey, I mean three dollars. Shoot with the economy nowadays.
You got your breakfast favorites pancake, como, ham and cheese,
melt French toast breakfast, and a house scramble for three
dollars each.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
That is a deal that you can't get anywhere else
at all. Now, well, one of the things that I
thought was really interesting here in your spotlight stack, because
you know what, everybody likes a good coffee cake, and
that you have brought that flavor to pancakes. Tell us
about that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, you had your coffee cake with cinnamon spread and
icing in between each pancake. It's your your coffee lover's dream.
It's like a coffee cinnamon's world.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Now, right now, today, you can get fifty dollars worth
of gift certificates at three ihop locations. Now that's not
one hundred and fifty dollars, but it just means that
you can use them at all three locations fifty dollars
for twenty five dollars this morning. Go to wajjr dot com.
Those three locations over on Venture Drive than Oakland Street
(02:54):
and also Jerry Dove Drive. Now let's see Jonathan blackf Friday.
Lots of Black Friday deals coming coming up.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
We had today's Black Friday for I hop you know,
you get those certificates. Then on actual Black Friday, you
can come through the Curated Clauset off the Mile Ground
seventeen fifty six Mile Ground Road, Suite D for all
your vintage needs. We're gonna have buy one, get one
half off majority of all product in the store.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Now the name of the place again, please Curated Closet
curated closet. Now, tell us a little bit more about it.
What do you have there?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
We have vintage clothes, Carhart jackets, WVU for Days, shoes, hats,
you know, anything you're gonna need for your style needs,
we got you.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And then coming up on Black Friday, of course, the
day after Thanksgiving, it is buy one and get one
half off.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, majority of the product in the store from Friday
through Saturday, Earth through Sunday.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Okay, all right, perfect, well, Jonathan, really do appreciate your
time this morning. And I'll tell you what. Twenty five
dollars gets fifty dollars at three I Hop locations. And
the breakfast favorites, you know, the ham and cheese omelet
always seems to be my go to.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
What about you, I'm gonna have to go with the
French toast.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Hey, I like it.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I like it especially for again, you do the math,
you get the fifty percent off and you get three
dollars a meal, and the way the economy is shoot,
I might need to go get that and I work there.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Well, you know what, I don't know anywhere else where
you can go sit down and have table service and
get something as good as what you can get at
eye out for three dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, just make sure you tip your server.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, yes, please please do. Hey, Jonathan, thank you very
much for your time, sir.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, Zarah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Absolutely. Have a great Friday. And once again, those are
on sale right now at wajar dot com. When we
come back, we're going to dive into public education. Got
the superintendent of Marion County Schools and the president of
the Board of Education. They penned a letter to the
state legislature asking them to ease up on public schools
(04:56):
in the upcoming session. We'll do that next on Talk
of the Town AM fourteen forty FM oneh four point
five WAJR.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
All right, buddy, we are talking about your town.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Good Friday morning. It is nine point fifteen. Welcome back.
At this moment, the governor is at the podium talking
about broadband expansion in the state. Matter of fact, the
governor has quite a busy day. At noon, he'll be
back at the podium for another announcement at the state Capitol.
Then at two o'clock this afternoon he'll provide some remarks
(05:45):
at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Apple Grove waste
water treatment plant. All right, back to business, Welcome back
to the program. Now in Marion County, the Board of
Education there, I've had enough with the state legislature and
their seemingly I guess, lack of support for public education.
Because of that, they have penned a letter to the
(06:09):
state legislature stating just that. On the phone, we've got
Marion County Superintendent Donna Heston, President of the Board, Mister
George Boyles, good morning, How are you.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Good morning, Mike, how are you hey.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'm doing good. I'm doing good, Donna. I guess first off,
tell us about Mike. Hey, good morning, George. A pleasure
to have you on the program, Sir, if we could,
if we could start here, tell us about the content
of the letter. Well, what are you telling the legislators exactly?
And how are you telling them?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well?
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Our Board of Education set a couple of priorities that
they really wanted the legislature to focus on, the first
one being review the research the data about the Hope Scholarship.
And we also did a plead to the legislators to
focus on things that drive students being prepared for a
(07:11):
educated workforce. And we ask them to look at the
research and the findings on that from their own economic
development advisors in the state.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
When you look.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
At how your economic development is being driven in the
state and how it's in deficits, those are things that
public schools can help with and to create pipelines for us.
In Marion County, we have a focus on career technical education,
and so we ask the legislators as a second priority
in that letter, to focus on not draining funds from
(07:46):
public education, but actually putting funds into public education so
that we can build and attract students that are interested
in careers that are right in their back door. And
so that was the second priority. The third one is
really look at the money that you are taking to
put in hope scholarship, look at ways that you actually
(08:09):
could support public education and a huge workforce that you
have in West Virginia by enhancing that, making it competitive
and attracting others. So those were just in summary, three
areas that that letter really wanted to drive home to
our legislators and to think about.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I guess a couple of things I'd like to add
to what you've just said. We've got doctor donad Heston
Superintendent Marion County Schools and also the president of the
Board of Education, mister George Voyles with us. You talked
about how they can help in the career technical education sector.
And as I look at Marion County, I see the
(08:48):
relationship with the North Central West Virginia Airport, although it
is in Harrison County, still a strong relationship there. You've
got the teaching partnerships, there's partnerships and nursing and I
know that I'm probably leaving a lot out that you'd
like to tell us about. But when you go to
the legislature, what I'm trying to say is you have
(09:09):
concrete examples of where this money could go and the
impact that it would.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Have, absolutely, you know, and when you look at that,
it really speaks to what's in our letter as well.
We have opportunities in aviation and aeronautics in our backyard,
and so we are we're finding ways in Marion County
as we always do in public education. We have great teachers,
(09:35):
they prepare students, steam education is essential. But that letter
is asking those legislators to give us opportunities and equal
opportunities to enhance programs like that. You know, we open
an aviation classroom in one of our middle schools. Not
just focusing on career technical education in high schools, but
(09:56):
opening a classroom in one of our middle schools that
will serve us all of our middle school students and
introduce them to careers that are in our backyard. As
you just referenced. Another thing that we're doing is we
are doing a one of it's kind in West Virginia
and we're hosting an aviation Aeronautics summit in Marion County.
(10:18):
It'll be hosted in easter ham On High School and
it is planned through Donna Padudo. We have partners from WVU,
Pierpont Marshall University and throughout career fields that will be
at that summit and they'll be talking to our students
about careers that are in their backyard and opportunities.
Speaker 7 (10:37):
That they have.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
We are just asking the legislators to support things more
like that instead of dealing with the rhetoric that they
seem to be tuned into the last several years.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Hey, you know what, I'm glad you brought that up
because I'm sorry, Georgia. Did you want to add something?
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Yeah, just I come from the healthcare environment retired right now.
Speaker 8 (11:01):
But what I saw the greatest needs when I was
there and various hospitals in West Virginia was the lack
of uh, you know, a workforce that I could do
you know, r ns, you know LPNs because we have
to meet certain things in our requirements, is in a
(11:25):
school system to use those r ns and LPNs.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
And there's so much possibility there to enhance that program
as well. It's a little bit uh, you know, different
than the aviation, but still the same premises there to
have a cool people that can work and get educated.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
Here in in the in the West Virginia region and
then come.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
And work for us in various jobs where trainers working
with our students and various medical needs to come up
from time to time. Just another way to have a
coaboration with another industry out here.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I think one other thing that the listeners would
like to understand, and from your viewpoint is why, you know,
what has the legislature done to cause you to write
this letter?
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Well, and you know I will speak just talking about
our first priority from that letter and the Hope Scholarship
you know for Marion County Schools. Hope scholarship has gone
from forty five students the first year to one hundred
and sixty one to three hundred and seventy five students
just in Marion County. And so we have lost two
(12:51):
hundred students between the twenty four to twenty five school
year twenty five twenty six school year. That's over a
million dollars in funding. That is a loss of eleven
thousand students in West Virginia overall from twenty twenty to
twenty twenty five, which equates a loss of state aid
for those public school systems. And it's really not about
(13:13):
fearing the competition. It's not about school option and choices
for us, Mike, and it really isn't for many school systems.
But when you look at the vast difference in accountability.
For example, six million dollars public dollars, six million public
dollars went to unaccredited schools in twenty twenty four. Half
(13:38):
of those schools receive Hope Scholarship funds. Public schools are accredited,
they are held to different credentials. One million dollars of
that Hope Scholarship funding went to out of state schools
in twenty twenty four. That is triple the amount of
what went to out of state schools in twenty twenty three.
They went to states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Florida,
(14:01):
and New Mexico. Those are West Virginia public dollars that
are being taken from our public schools and they're going
to out of state. Seventeen point three million went to
non public schools from the Hope Scholarship in twenty twenty four.
That's a concern to us. And so when you are
facing those numbers just in Marion County, think of what
(14:24):
that impact is throughout the state. And we really just
are employing the legislators focus on economic development.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
For the state.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Keep the money in West Virginia and support your public
schools so that we can enhance programming to build pipelines
to drive economic development in West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
You know, in the effort of improving programming. I've heard
the vice chair of the Education Committee, Delegate Joe Statler,
just asked the question if school districts are talking to
families when they do make that Hope Scholarship decision and
leave the district, and if they talk to the families,
what are they hear.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
You know, we.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Actually did a survey the first year at the end
of the first year that the Hope Scholarship came out,
and so we did survey our stakeholders. We mirrored that
off of another county that was doing that. I believe
Upshur County had surveyed parents. Lewis County has as well
to find out really, and again it's not about school
(15:31):
option and the reasons they leave. What we did find
in our survey is they may leave in the middle
school years, but they come back during the high school
years for programming such as career technical education programs, fine
arts programs. And so we heeded that information from our
survey and we started building CTE programs in our middle
(15:54):
schools so that we could keep them before they decide
to leave and go for other opportunities. And so really
for us dropping that career technical education down into our
middle schools, that was our hope to offset that so
that we did not lose because what we did find
in our survey, they come back to us in the
(16:15):
high school years for athletics, for career technical education, and
for fine arts opportunities. And I'm glad that you brought
that up too. You know, do we talk to parents
when they leave for the Hope So the Hope Scholarship,
nearly seventeen percent of families are special needs in Marion County,
(16:36):
and so when those families leave and go into Hope Scholarship,
many of them are going into programs that do not
meet the needs of their children, and they of course
leave those services and have to start the process all
over again when they come back. So that's a concern
for us. Nineteen percent of students in Marion County are
(16:59):
leaving our are living in food and security, and we
have twenty percent that are living in poverty. And so
when they leave us and they homeschool or they go
into Hope Scholarship opportunities, we are we're deeply concerned about
the programming child nutrition, special needs supports, mental health supports,
and so really we're asking the legislators to consider that again.
(17:23):
You know what, are who's checking in on those students, hey,
that are in these programs supporting them.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Let me ask you this, because the lawmakers they're going
to come back to you. We're close on time, by
the way, but the lawmakers are going to come back
to you and they're going to bring up competition, and
I'm sure that when they do that, you're going to
bring up things like this aviation summit.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
Absolutely, and again it has never for us been about
fearing the competition. We believe hands down because of things
like career technical education programming. We believe the dual credit
opportunities that we offer through FIR State WVU Marshall Pierpont.
(18:03):
Our goal is for our students to leave and walk
across the high school with at least the equivalent of
an associate's degree. And so those are things that we're
looking at the legislators, you know, to consider and definitely
got of the facts of what school systems like Marion
County do and have that information and stop slinging rhetoric
(18:26):
and really invite us to the table to be part
of the conversations. I think that's important. But we are
doing great things in public education because we have to
and able to be able to keep the doors open.
You know. That's another thing I think that the legislators
that it's come out in the public most recently fifty
(18:48):
school closures or more in the past five years due
to incline, declining enrollment, twenty school closures just this last
year due to declining enrollment in our public schools, and
those are things that concern families in communities. Those are
things that concern families in Marion County. We have not
(19:11):
had to consolidate or close schools in Marion County, but
we're at that point now where that is a viable
possibility and we're not alone. As you look out across
the state over fifty school closures in the last five years,
and that's something we certainly ask our legislators to invite
us to the table so that we can have those
conversations and they see the impact.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
You know what, I'll tell you what, I'm very sorry,
we're out of time. I really do appreciate you guys
coming on. We'll definitely continue this conversation. Thank you, Thank
you very much.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
In the conversation at one eight hundred seven sixty five
eight two fivety five. This is the talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, good Friday morning. Don't forget it is a fifty
percent Friday. You can get those IHOP certificates at WAJR,
dot com, Monhealth Vandelia Health. They have been revitalizing their
health network throughout the state, especially in rural communities. Evidence
of that would be what's happened in the city of Fairmont.
You've got the small format hospital in Marion County, one
(20:32):
under construction in Harrison County, and there are plans for
a new fifty six million dollars Stonewall Jackson Hospital in
the Weston area, but the Supreme Courts put the brakes
on that effort. Justices have ruled that the state healthcare
authority overstepped their bounds when they waived the need for
a certificate of need for that facility. Mon Health President
(20:55):
and CEO and executive vice president of Vandelia Health, David
Goldberg is with us. David, good morning, I hope you're well.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Good morning, Happy Friday to you. I love that it's
fifty Friday.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
You know what I do too. That's for sure makes
the math easy too.
Speaker 7 (21:11):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Okay, David, I guess how did we get to this
point the Supreme Court has I guess they put the
brakes on this fifty six million dollar revitalization of your
healthcare facility in that neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
Well, first, I mean, we're disappointed with the decision. We're
a country that we follow our laws. I believe in
the role of law. I have the utmost respect for
the Supreme Court, the Intermediate Court, the Healthcare Authority, and
all of our processes we go through. I'm a big
proponent of the certificate and need program. I've lived in
states where we have not had such a framework, and
(21:51):
we've oversaturated, overbuilt, overdeveloped, increasing cost. Inadvertently, the Supreme Court
ruled that their interpretation of the law is new construction
of new facilities from a healthcare perspective need certificate and
need approval. So that's their decision. We have clarity, and
now we're going to review that and as we continue
(22:13):
to grow here in the state, will continue to look
at new construction and follow the.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Rule of law. And I guess at this point it
would be nearly impossible to say, well, it's going to
take us a year in order to establish the criteria
for that certificate of need.
Speaker 7 (22:30):
Well, the certificate and need rules the way that they are,
they're already established. Our interpretation. Back then, the Senate and
the House approved a bill called Senate Bill six fifty
three that allowed to build health care facilities with certificate
and need. Our interpretation was under one hundred million dollars
that we can do that. Supreme Court came back and
(22:52):
said that new construction need certificate and need. So we
will do that. We will follow the law. We will
look for a few future path to continue to rebuild
and enhance and make sure we have the right facilities
in place for Greater West and Greater Lewis County.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And I'm assuming that the location of the WVU medicine
facility could be a challenge to getting that certificate of need.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
You mean Saint Joe's Hospital that's in Buchanan, Yes, yeah,
I mean that's a long standing hospital they are and
the land that stormwol Jackson bought many many years ago.
They own two parcels. As you know, they have the
land that we wanted to rebuild on. They also have
another eighty somat acres across the street. We'll look at those.
We have looked at all different land options. We think
(23:41):
they're great facility locations right off the interstate, easy access.
But we'll go through the process and identify what we
have to do next, whether it's on that land other
property that we will look at. I mean, we're still
now deciphering what came back from the Supreme Court. We
want to make sure we make the right decision for
the long term. The people of Lewis County deserve to
(24:04):
have a modern facility. They deserve to have the access
that we continue to support. And I think it's important
to the listeners to know. And you mentioned the other
hospitals in Fairmont, the one we're building in Harrison County.
We're growing at Preston Memorial. We're underway with an expansion
there for its clinic and its oncology program. We're expanding
(24:25):
here at the medical center here in Morgantown. We have
a new electrophysiology lab. We're rebuilding our roofs. We're building
a hybrid room that allows us to do minimally invasive
cardiac and vascular and interventional pulmonary procedures. I mean we're
growing as technology makes itself available, Well, we need to
have the same ability to do that in Greater Lewis
(24:45):
County with a building and facilities that match the needs
of today's medicine.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
You know, that's a great segue. We've got mon Health
President CEO David Goldberg, also the executive vice president of
Vandilia Hillth tell us why we need a new facility
in West.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
Well, I mean new facility is one thing, but we
need to have facilities that meet the current need. I
mean back in the day, I'm fifty three years old.
That building is about the same age and it's in
great condition, probably better than me. But healthcare has changed
over the last fifty years. If you think about you know,
five years ago, you came into a hospital, you may
(25:22):
have had your hip replaced, your knee replaced, a cardiac catharticization,
and you stayed overnight a day, two days, three days.
Moms just a few years ago came into a hospital
to deliver a baby and they stayed to five six
days after they deliver their baby. Well, that's not the
case anymore. In many cases, we have a surgery center
here in Morgantown. They do same day joints. You're in
(25:44):
and out in hours. Doctor shir Curry rad are leading
urologist here in Morgantown. He's able if you have to
have your prostate removed, He's able to do that robotically
through what's called the single port robots single port procedure.
You're in and out in a day having your prostate removed. Well,
buildings have changed. The Western Facility is an older facility.
(26:07):
It has smaller operating rooms, it has semi private rooms.
We want to make sure into the future that we
have operating rooms that fit the technology, the devices, the robotics.
We want to make sure that when a mom chose
at either Stonewall or any of our facilities, that the
rooms are appropriate for today's expected delivery of care. And
(26:27):
that's what we have to do. So that building, whether
it's new, refurbished, replanted, needs to meet today's standard related
to healthcare delivery.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And I think one thing that people would want to
know is what does right sizing these facilities, if I
can use that term, what does that have to do
with controlling overall healthcare costs?
Speaker 7 (26:48):
That's a great question. You know, sometimes building new facilities
is less expensive than refurbishing or rehabilitating existing there's code
requirements that once you start to expect in an operating
room or build a new cancer suite, you have to
meet current building standards and that could be very expensive.
(27:08):
So we want to make sure we do the right thing.
At the end of the day, we're a public charity
and we want to make sure that when we build,
we are good stores of our dollars and that when
we do things that we do the right economic thing.
We also it's all about patients, it's all about community service.
So we want to balance those decisions for access, timeliness,
(27:29):
quality of care, good service, and also the appropriate in
how we invest our dollars because at the end of
the day, someone's paying for it, whether you're billing insurance
or someone's paying out of pocket. We want to make
sure we price things competitively, but we want to be
fair with the dollars in how we invest them and
how we deploy them.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Non Health President and CEO David Goldberg is with us.
How does this change the timeline or does it just
put it on and maybe hold?
Speaker 7 (27:58):
Now not hold, I mean now we're going back and
now that the decision has been rendered. Now we go
back and we look at our plans to be able
to look forward on how we continue to be able
to have the right facility. I want our listeners to know,
especially those who might hear us in Greater Lewis County,
Vandalia Health is absolutely committed to making sure that that
hospital maintains itself and grows within Lewis County. We are
(28:20):
recruiting doctors. We have new surgeons coming into the community,
or the pedists coming into the community. We've added obstetricians
into the community. We have doctors from across Vandalia Health
urology and our optometry providers in and around the region
go to Stonewall to provide care. That's not going to change.
(28:41):
We've added more days of service for oncology doctors, pose
and an escue service the population in Greater Western to
provide chemotherapy and cancer care. That's not going to change.
Doctor Kochapura is doing procedures and seeing pulmonary patients down
at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital. So our commitment is sound
(29:01):
and resolute.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Okay, if you don't mind, I know we didn't discuss this,
but can you give us a quick update on construction
there in Harrison County.
Speaker 7 (29:12):
Yeah, I'd be glad to. We have a lot of
construction going on. The hospital in Henderson County is going really,
really well. We are almost under roof. We plan to
have it open and operational this summer. So we've had
a really good fall, really good early to the winter,
so that's helped us be brisk. March Weston our construction
company and Jamie Ridgeway and the team deserve a top
(29:34):
of the hat. They have done an outstanding job with
their construction crew. Josh Clovith and doctor Christopher Edwards, who
are the administrators and construction leaders, are doing an outstanding
job with the team. So we're real excited and to
bring that level of care this summer to Harrison County.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Well, go ahead and give us a Preston County update too, please.
Speaker 7 (29:53):
Yeah. As many people know, we received about four and
a half million dollars in federal and state rants to
be able to expand the clinic over at Preston Memorial.
I just saw pictures literally this morning where the elevator
bay is constructed. We're going to be adding the other
construction around it that clinic. We're actually going to be
(30:14):
having a steel signing ceremony in mid December for that facility.
So we're really excited to be able to bring expanded
cancer care clinic space down to Preston Memorial, which has
seen extreme growth in its cancer program alone over since
we started it about two years ago.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
If you just isolate those two projects, David, what's the
investment there.
Speaker 7 (30:37):
It's about a six and a half million dollar investment
in Preston Memorial and shy of thirty two thirty five
million in Marion. I don't know. I'm sorry, Harrison, off
the top of my head. But when you add both
of those together, employing construction company personnel and the building
of it, I mean it's over forty million dollars of
(30:58):
construction those two alone, and then another almost ten million
dollars here at the medical center, all within the last year,
on top of routine capital that we.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Invest that those are impressive numbers. We've got Mond Health
President and CEO David Goldberg, also the executive vice president
of Vandelia Health. Sir, really do appreciate your time, and
I hope that you have a good Friday and a
great weekend.
Speaker 7 (31:23):
And seeing to you and all of our listeners and
happy healthy Thanksgiving wishes to everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yes, yes, sir, Hey, David really do appreciate your time.
Thank you so much anytime. Bye bye, yes, sir, bye bye.
President CEO Mond Health, David Goldberg certainly appreciate his time.
Clouds forty two degrees. When we come back, I'm going
to talk about an event that is just about a
week away. Want to give you plenty of time in
(31:48):
order to prepare. That is next on top of the town.
AM fourteen forty FM one four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's nine point fifty in the University City. Welcome back
to Talk of the Town. I'm Mike Nolting and don't
forget this weekend. It is quarter final high school playoff
football action and WAJR is the only place for completely
free coverage of each game. And of course tonight University
(32:33):
is at Huntington. We'll have that play by play coverage
right here on WAJR, following the city Net statewide sports line.
Then tomorrow one o'clock in the afternoon play by play
coverage of Morgantown and Spring Mills. That'll be at one o'clock.
And then following that contest, of course we'll have Clay
(32:55):
Battel taking on Work County. All those games live on
double you AJR and completely free. I might add now
coming up on the Saturday, December sixth, Morgantown based religious
organization that supports outreach to single mothers and those affected
(33:15):
by addiction having an event at the Cavalry Chapel Castle
on Tyrone Road. Now, Aaron Andtoni Marco lost their son
chase to an overdose following a stint in recovery at
the ARISE Addiction Recovery Service in the state of Maine.
(33:35):
Now Aaron and Tony they brought that a RISE program
to the Morgantown area through Cavalry Chapel Ministries and then
coming up on Saturday on the sixth of December, they
invite the community. Don't have to be a member of
the church, and as a matter of fact, you can
be maybe unsure of your religious status, but a register
(33:59):
for an ornament for the Tree of Hope, Grace and
Remembrance Memorial ceremony that'll happen at the Chapelcastle at six
thirty Saturday night. Now, this is for anyone that you
know that maybe looking for support. You might want to
tell them about this event. It'll be a tree lighting
and a matter of fact, you can go to cc
(34:22):
Morgantown dot com and get more details on this event
and while you're there you'll be able to register for
one of these ornaments. Now, when you register for an ornament,
you can do it completely anonymously and it doesn't obligate
you to attend either. There's absolutely no cost, So you
(34:42):
can go to cc Morgantown dot com. And you've got
your choice of three colors. You've got gold, purple, and
I believe blue. But gold is for sobriety. No, I'm sorry.
Gold and purple I think, oh, here we go. Gold
(35:06):
blue and purple blue means you're struggling. Gold is for
sobriety and purple is for remembrance. So you can register
for any of the ornaments that would apply to the
situation that you, a family member, or someone close to
you might be in. You don't have to leave your name,
you don't have to make a donation, and you don't
(35:27):
have to show up for the event. And just know
that there will be thinking people thinking and praying for
you and your cause. You can go to CC Morgantown
dot com and get more information about that event once again.
That is one week from tomorrow at the Cavalry Chapel,
Castle Tyrone Road at six thirty. If you'd like some
(35:51):
more information, you'd like to give them a call. That
number is three zero four seven seven seven three one
five five. We'll be back to wrap up the program
after this on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty
f N one oh four point five W A j R.
Call the show toll free at one eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two fivey five. Now Here is your
host for the Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
A good Friday morning, clouds and forty two degrees in
the city of Morgantown. Welcome to Talk of the Town.
I'm Mike Nolting producing the program. Today. We have Sophia Wassick.
You'll be able to get Sophia at eight hundred seven
six five eight two five five. And of course the
text line it is active ready for you. As a
(00:33):
matter of fact, right now that number three oh four
Talk three oh four out today. On the program, we're
going to dive into some issues regarding let's see where
do we go. Well, we'll come back to that in
just a moment. What I'd like for you to do
now is to head out to WAJR dot com because
(00:55):
it is a fifty percent Friday twenty five dollars will
get you fifty dollars worth of good food at I
Hop and to talk about I Hoop. We've got Jonathan
with us this morning. Jonathan, good morning, how are you so?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Good morning, sir, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
How about you? Hey, I'm doing great. Thank you very much. Okay,
now let's see ihop. When you buy these gift certificates
here at wajar dot com as a part of fifty
percent Friday, you can use them at Venture Drive Oakland
Street or in Bridgeport at the location on Jerrydve Drive. Now,
one of the things that I noticed in this set
(01:34):
of notes here, Jonathan, you've got six dollars entrees for breakfast.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, it's the listed praise. And then if we do
math here, let's see if we get the twenty five
gets you fifty, and then if you use the fifty
to get the six dollars, economy meals that's three dollars right.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
That's exactly why we brought Jonathan in this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hey, I mean three dollars. Shoot with the economy nowadays.
You got your breakfast favorites pancake, como, ham and cheese,
melt French toast breakfast, and a house scramble for three
dollars each.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
That is a deal that you can't get anywhere else
at all. Now, well, one of the things that I
thought was really interesting here in your spotlight stack, because
you know what, everybody likes a good coffee cake, and
that you have brought that flavor to pancakes. Tell us
about that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, you had your coffee cake with cinnamon spread and
icing in between each pancake. It's your your coffee lover's dream.
It's like a coffee cinnamon's world.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Now, right now, today, you can get fifty dollars worth
of gift certificates at three ihop locations. Now that's not
one hundred and fifty dollars, but it just means that
you can use them at all three locations fifty dollars
for twenty five dollars this morning. Go to wajjr dot com.
Those three locations over on Venture Drive than Oakland Street
(02:54):
and also Jerry Dove Drive. Now let's see Jonathan blackf Friday.
Lots of Black Friday deals coming coming up.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
We had today's Black Friday for I hop you know,
you get those certificates. Then on actual Black Friday, you
can come through the Curated Clauset off the Mile Ground
seventeen fifty six Mile Ground Road, Suite D for all
your vintage needs. We're gonna have buy one, get one
half off majority of all product in the store.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Now the name of the place again, please Curated Closet
curated closet. Now, tell us a little bit more about it.
What do you have there?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
We have vintage clothes, Carhart jackets, WVU for Days, shoes, hats,
you know, anything you're gonna need for your style needs,
we got you.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And then coming up on Black Friday, of course, the
day after Thanksgiving, it is buy one and get one
half off.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, majority of the product in the store from Friday
through Saturday, Earth through Sunday.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Okay, all right, perfect, well, Jonathan, really do appreciate your
time this morning. And I'll tell you what. Twenty five
dollars gets fifty dollars at three I Hop locations. And
the breakfast favorites, you know, the ham and cheese omelet
always seems to be my go to.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
What about you, I'm gonna have to go with the
French toast.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Hey, I like it.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I like it especially for again, you do the math,
you get the fifty percent off and you get three
dollars a meal, and the way the economy is shoot,
I might need to go get that and I work there.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Well, you know what, I don't know anywhere else where
you can go sit down and have table service and
get something as good as what you can get at
eye out for three dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, just make sure you tip your server.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, yes, please please do. Hey, Jonathan, thank you very
much for your time, sir.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, Zarah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Absolutely. Have a great Friday. And once again, those are
on sale right now at wajar dot com. When we
come back, we're going to dive into public education. Got
the superintendent of Marion County Schools and the president of
the Board of Education. They penned a letter to the
state legislature asking them to ease up on public schools
(04:56):
in the upcoming session. We'll do that next on Talk
of the Town AM fourteen forty FM oneh four point
five WAJR.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
All right, buddy, we are talking about your town.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Good Friday morning. It is nine point fifteen. Welcome back.
At this moment, the governor is at the podium talking
about broadband expansion in the state. Matter of fact, the
governor has quite a busy day. At noon, he'll be
back at the podium for another announcement at the state Capitol.
Then at two o'clock this afternoon he'll provide some remarks
(05:45):
at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Apple Grove waste
water treatment plant. All right, back to business, Welcome back
to the program. Now in Marion County, the Board of
Education there, I've had enough with the state legislature and
their seemingly I guess, lack of support for public education.
Because of that, they have penned a letter to the
(06:09):
state legislature stating just that. On the phone, we've got
Marion County Superintendent Donna Heston, President of the Board, Mister
George Boyles, good morning, How are you.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Good morning, Mike, how are you hey.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'm doing good. I'm doing good, Donna. I guess first off,
tell us about Mike. Hey, good morning, George. A pleasure
to have you on the program, Sir, if we could,
if we could start here, tell us about the content
of the letter. Well, what are you telling the legislators exactly?
And how are you telling them?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well?
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Our Board of Education set a couple of priorities that
they really wanted the legislature to focus on, the first
one being review the research the data about the Hope Scholarship.
And we also did a plead to the legislators to
focus on things that drive students being prepared for a
(07:11):
educated workforce. And we ask them to look at the
research and the findings on that from their own economic
development advisors in the state.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
When you look.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
At how your economic development is being driven in the
state and how it's in deficits, those are things that
public schools can help with and to create pipelines for us.
In Marion County, we have a focus on career technical education,
and so we ask the legislators as a second priority
in that letter, to focus on not draining funds from
(07:46):
public education, but actually putting funds into public education so
that we can build and attract students that are interested
in careers that are right in their back door. And
so that was the second priority. The third one is
really look at the money that you are taking to
put in hope scholarship, look at ways that you actually
(08:09):
could support public education and a huge workforce that you
have in West Virginia by enhancing that, making it competitive
and attracting others. So those were just in summary, three
areas that that letter really wanted to drive home to
our legislators and to think about.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I guess a couple of things I'd like to add
to what you've just said. We've got doctor donad Heston
Superintendent Marion County Schools and also the president of the
Board of Education, mister George Voyles with us. You talked
about how they can help in the career technical education sector.
And as I look at Marion County, I see the
(08:48):
relationship with the North Central West Virginia Airport, although it
is in Harrison County, still a strong relationship there. You've
got the teaching partnerships, there's partnerships and nursing and I
know that I'm probably leaving a lot out that you'd
like to tell us about. But when you go to
the legislature, what I'm trying to say is you have
(09:09):
concrete examples of where this money could go and the
impact that it would.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Have, absolutely, you know, and when you look at that,
it really speaks to what's in our letter as well.
We have opportunities in aviation and aeronautics in our backyard,
and so we are we're finding ways in Marion County
as we always do in public education. We have great teachers,
(09:35):
they prepare students, steam education is essential. But that letter
is asking those legislators to give us opportunities and equal
opportunities to enhance programs like that. You know, we open
an aviation classroom in one of our middle schools. Not
just focusing on career technical education in high schools, but
(09:56):
opening a classroom in one of our middle schools that
will serve us all of our middle school students and
introduce them to careers that are in our backyard. As
you just referenced. Another thing that we're doing is we
are doing a one of it's kind in West Virginia
and we're hosting an aviation Aeronautics summit in Marion County.
(10:18):
It'll be hosted in easter ham On High School and
it is planned through Donna Padudo. We have partners from WVU,
Pierpont Marshall University and throughout career fields that will be
at that summit and they'll be talking to our students
about careers that are in their backyard and opportunities.
Speaker 7 (10:37):
That they have.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
We are just asking the legislators to support things more
like that instead of dealing with the rhetoric that they
seem to be tuned into the last several years.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Hey, you know what, I'm glad you brought that up
because I'm sorry, Georgia. Did you want to add something?
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Yeah, just I come from the healthcare environment retired right now.
Speaker 8 (11:01):
But what I saw the greatest needs when I was
there and various hospitals in West Virginia was the lack
of uh, you know, a workforce that I could do
you know, r ns, you know LPNs because we have
to meet certain things in our requirements, is in a
(11:25):
school system to use those r ns and LPNs.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
And there's so much possibility there to enhance that program
as well. It's a little bit uh, you know, different
than the aviation, but still the same premises there to
have a cool people that can work and get educated.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
Here in in the in the West Virginia region and
then come.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
And work for us in various jobs where trainers working
with our students and various medical needs to come up
from time to time. Just another way to have a
coaboration with another industry out here.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I think one other thing that the listeners would
like to understand, and from your viewpoint is why, you know,
what has the legislature done to cause you to write
this letter?
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Well, and you know I will speak just talking about
our first priority from that letter and the Hope Scholarship
you know for Marion County Schools. Hope scholarship has gone
from forty five students the first year to one hundred
and sixty one to three hundred and seventy five students
just in Marion County. And so we have lost two
(12:51):
hundred students between the twenty four to twenty five school
year twenty five twenty six school year. That's over a
million dollars in funding. That is a loss of eleven
thousand students in West Virginia overall from twenty twenty to
twenty twenty five, which equates a loss of state aid
for those public school systems. And it's really not about
(13:13):
fearing the competition. It's not about school option and choices
for us, Mike, and it really isn't for many school systems.
But when you look at the vast difference in accountability.
For example, six million dollars public dollars, six million public
dollars went to unaccredited schools in twenty twenty four. Half
(13:38):
of those schools receive Hope Scholarship funds. Public schools are accredited,
they are held to different credentials. One million dollars of
that Hope Scholarship funding went to out of state schools
in twenty twenty four. That is triple the amount of
what went to out of state schools in twenty twenty three.
They went to states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Florida,
(14:01):
and New Mexico. Those are West Virginia public dollars that
are being taken from our public schools and they're going
to out of state. Seventeen point three million went to
non public schools from the Hope Scholarship in twenty twenty four.
That's a concern to us. And so when you are
facing those numbers just in Marion County, think of what
(14:24):
that impact is throughout the state. And we really just
are employing the legislators focus on economic development.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
For the state.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Keep the money in West Virginia and support your public
schools so that we can enhance programming to build pipelines
to drive economic development in West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
You know, in the effort of improving programming. I've heard
the vice chair of the Education Committee, Delegate Joe Statler,
just asked the question if school districts are talking to
families when they do make that Hope Scholarship decision and
leave the district, and if they talk to the families,
what are they hear.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
You know, we.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Actually did a survey the first year at the end
of the first year that the Hope Scholarship came out,
and so we did survey our stakeholders. We mirrored that
off of another county that was doing that. I believe
Upshur County had surveyed parents. Lewis County has as well
to find out really, and again it's not about school
(15:31):
option and the reasons they leave. What we did find
in our survey is they may leave in the middle
school years, but they come back during the high school
years for programming such as career technical education programs, fine
arts programs. And so we heeded that information from our
survey and we started building CTE programs in our middle
(15:54):
schools so that we could keep them before they decide
to leave and go for other opportunities. And so really
for us dropping that career technical education down into our
middle schools, that was our hope to offset that so
that we did not lose because what we did find
in our survey, they come back to us in the
(16:15):
high school years for athletics, for career technical education, and
for fine arts opportunities. And I'm glad that you brought
that up too. You know, do we talk to parents
when they leave for the Hope So the Hope Scholarship,
nearly seventeen percent of families are special needs in Marion County,
(16:36):
and so when those families leave and go into Hope Scholarship,
many of them are going into programs that do not
meet the needs of their children, and they of course
leave those services and have to start the process all
over again when they come back. So that's a concern
for us. Nineteen percent of students in Marion County are
(16:59):
leaving our are living in food and security, and we
have twenty percent that are living in poverty. And so
when they leave us and they homeschool or they go
into Hope Scholarship opportunities, we are we're deeply concerned about
the programming child nutrition, special needs supports, mental health supports,
and so really we're asking the legislators to consider that again.
(17:23):
You know what, are who's checking in on those students, hey,
that are in these programs supporting them.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Let me ask you this, because the lawmakers they're going
to come back to you. We're close on time, by
the way, but the lawmakers are going to come back
to you and they're going to bring up competition, and
I'm sure that when they do that, you're going to
bring up things like this aviation summit.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
Absolutely, and again it has never for us been about
fearing the competition. We believe hands down because of things
like career technical education programming. We believe the dual credit
opportunities that we offer through FIR State WVU Marshall Pierpont.
(18:03):
Our goal is for our students to leave and walk
across the high school with at least the equivalent of
an associate's degree. And so those are things that we're
looking at the legislators, you know, to consider and definitely
got of the facts of what school systems like Marion
County do and have that information and stop slinging rhetoric
(18:26):
and really invite us to the table to be part
of the conversations. I think that's important. But we are
doing great things in public education because we have to
and able to be able to keep the doors open.
You know. That's another thing I think that the legislators
that it's come out in the public most recently fifty
(18:48):
school closures or more in the past five years due
to incline, declining enrollment, twenty school closures just this last
year due to declining enrollment in our public schools, and
those are things that concern families in communities. Those are
things that concern families in Marion County. We have not
(19:11):
had to consolidate or close schools in Marion County, but
we're at that point now where that is a viable
possibility and we're not alone. As you look out across
the state over fifty school closures in the last five years,
and that's something we certainly ask our legislators to invite
us to the table so that we can have those
conversations and they see the impact.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
You know what, I'll tell you what, I'm very sorry,
we're out of time. I really do appreciate you guys
coming on. We'll definitely continue this conversation. Thank you, Thank
you very much.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
In the conversation at one eight hundred seven sixty five
eight two fivety five. This is the talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, good Friday morning. Don't forget it is a fifty
percent Friday. You can get those IHOP certificates at WAJR,
dot com, Monhealth Vandelia Health. They have been revitalizing their
health network throughout the state, especially in rural communities. Evidence
of that would be what's happened in the city of Fairmont.
You've got the small format hospital in Marion County, one
(20:32):
under construction in Harrison County, and there are plans for
a new fifty six million dollars Stonewall Jackson Hospital in
the Weston area, but the Supreme Courts put the brakes
on that effort. Justices have ruled that the state healthcare
authority overstepped their bounds when they waived the need for
a certificate of need for that facility. Mon Health President
(20:55):
and CEO and executive vice president of Vandelia Health, David
Goldberg is with us. David, good morning, I hope you're well.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Good morning, Happy Friday to you. I love that it's
fifty Friday.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
You know what I do too. That's for sure makes
the math easy too.
Speaker 7 (21:11):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Okay, David, I guess how did we get to this
point the Supreme Court has I guess they put the
brakes on this fifty six million dollar revitalization of your
healthcare facility in that neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
Well, first, I mean, we're disappointed with the decision. We're
a country that we follow our laws. I believe in
the role of law. I have the utmost respect for
the Supreme Court, the Intermediate Court, the Healthcare Authority, and
all of our processes we go through. I'm a big
proponent of the certificate and need program. I've lived in
states where we have not had such a framework, and
(21:51):
we've oversaturated, overbuilt, overdeveloped, increasing cost. Inadvertently, the Supreme Court
ruled that their interpretation of the law is new construction
of new facilities from a healthcare perspective need certificate and
need approval. So that's their decision. We have clarity, and
now we're going to review that and as we continue
(22:13):
to grow here in the state, will continue to look
at new construction and follow the.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Rule of law. And I guess at this point it
would be nearly impossible to say, well, it's going to
take us a year in order to establish the criteria
for that certificate of need.
Speaker 7 (22:30):
Well, the certificate and need rules the way that they are,
they're already established. Our interpretation. Back then, the Senate and
the House approved a bill called Senate Bill six fifty
three that allowed to build health care facilities with certificate
and need. Our interpretation was under one hundred million dollars
that we can do that. Supreme Court came back and
(22:52):
said that new construction need certificate and need. So we
will do that. We will follow the law. We will
look for a few future path to continue to rebuild
and enhance and make sure we have the right facilities
in place for Greater West and Greater Lewis County.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And I'm assuming that the location of the WVU medicine
facility could be a challenge to getting that certificate of need.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
You mean Saint Joe's Hospital that's in Buchanan, Yes, yeah,
I mean that's a long standing hospital they are and
the land that stormwol Jackson bought many many years ago.
They own two parcels. As you know, they have the
land that we wanted to rebuild on. They also have
another eighty somat acres across the street. We'll look at those.
We have looked at all different land options. We think
(23:41):
they're great facility locations right off the interstate, easy access.
But we'll go through the process and identify what we
have to do next, whether it's on that land other
property that we will look at. I mean, we're still
now deciphering what came back from the Supreme Court. We
want to make sure we make the right decision for
the long term. The people of Lewis County deserve to
(24:04):
have a modern facility. They deserve to have the access
that we continue to support. And I think it's important
to the listeners to know. And you mentioned the other
hospitals in Fairmont, the one we're building in Harrison County.
We're growing at Preston Memorial. We're underway with an expansion
there for its clinic and its oncology program. We're expanding
(24:25):
here at the medical center here in Morgantown. We have
a new electrophysiology lab. We're rebuilding our roofs. We're building
a hybrid room that allows us to do minimally invasive
cardiac and vascular and interventional pulmonary procedures. I mean we're
growing as technology makes itself available, Well, we need to
have the same ability to do that in Greater Lewis
(24:45):
County with a building and facilities that match the needs
of today's medicine.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
You know, that's a great segue. We've got mon Health
President CEO David Goldberg, also the executive vice president of
Vandilia Hillth tell us why we need a new facility
in West.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
Well, I mean new facility is one thing, but we
need to have facilities that meet the current need. I
mean back in the day, I'm fifty three years old.
That building is about the same age and it's in
great condition, probably better than me. But healthcare has changed
over the last fifty years. If you think about you know,
five years ago, you came into a hospital, you may
(25:22):
have had your hip replaced, your knee replaced, a cardiac catharticization,
and you stayed overnight a day, two days, three days.
Moms just a few years ago came into a hospital
to deliver a baby and they stayed to five six
days after they deliver their baby. Well, that's not the
case anymore. In many cases, we have a surgery center
here in Morgantown. They do same day joints. You're in
(25:44):
and out in hours. Doctor shir Curry rad are leading
urologist here in Morgantown. He's able if you have to
have your prostate removed, He's able to do that robotically
through what's called the single port robots single port procedure.
You're in and out in a day having your prostate removed. Well,
buildings have changed. The Western Facility is an older facility.
(26:07):
It has smaller operating rooms, it has semi private rooms.
We want to make sure into the future that we
have operating rooms that fit the technology, the devices, the robotics.
We want to make sure that when a mom chose
at either Stonewall or any of our facilities, that the
rooms are appropriate for today's expected delivery of care. And
(26:27):
that's what we have to do. So that building, whether
it's new, refurbished, replanted, needs to meet today's standard related
to healthcare delivery.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And I think one thing that people would want to
know is what does right sizing these facilities, if I
can use that term, what does that have to do
with controlling overall healthcare costs?
Speaker 7 (26:48):
That's a great question. You know, sometimes building new facilities
is less expensive than refurbishing or rehabilitating existing there's code
requirements that once you start to expect in an operating
room or build a new cancer suite, you have to
meet current building standards and that could be very expensive.
(27:08):
So we want to make sure we do the right thing.
At the end of the day, we're a public charity
and we want to make sure that when we build,
we are good stores of our dollars and that when
we do things that we do the right economic thing.
We also it's all about patients, it's all about community service.
So we want to balance those decisions for access, timeliness,
(27:29):
quality of care, good service, and also the appropriate in
how we invest our dollars because at the end of
the day, someone's paying for it, whether you're billing insurance
or someone's paying out of pocket. We want to make
sure we price things competitively, but we want to be
fair with the dollars in how we invest them and
how we deploy them.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Non Health President and CEO David Goldberg is with us.
How does this change the timeline or does it just
put it on and maybe hold?
Speaker 7 (27:58):
Now not hold, I mean now we're going back and
now that the decision has been rendered. Now we go
back and we look at our plans to be able
to look forward on how we continue to be able
to have the right facility. I want our listeners to know,
especially those who might hear us in Greater Lewis County,
Vandalia Health is absolutely committed to making sure that that
hospital maintains itself and grows within Lewis County. We are
(28:20):
recruiting doctors. We have new surgeons coming into the community,
or the pedists coming into the community. We've added obstetricians
into the community. We have doctors from across Vandalia Health
urology and our optometry providers in and around the region
go to Stonewall to provide care. That's not going to change.
(28:41):
We've added more days of service for oncology doctors, pose
and an escue service the population in Greater Western to
provide chemotherapy and cancer care. That's not going to change.
Doctor Kochapura is doing procedures and seeing pulmonary patients down
at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital. So our commitment is sound
(29:01):
and resolute.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Okay, if you don't mind, I know we didn't discuss this,
but can you give us a quick update on construction
there in Harrison County.
Speaker 7 (29:12):
Yeah, I'd be glad to. We have a lot of
construction going on. The hospital in Henderson County is going really,
really well. We are almost under roof. We plan to
have it open and operational this summer. So we've had
a really good fall, really good early to the winter,
so that's helped us be brisk. March Weston our construction
company and Jamie Ridgeway and the team deserve a top
(29:34):
of the hat. They have done an outstanding job with
their construction crew. Josh Clovith and doctor Christopher Edwards, who
are the administrators and construction leaders, are doing an outstanding
job with the team. So we're real excited and to
bring that level of care this summer to Harrison County.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Well, go ahead and give us a Preston County update too, please.
Speaker 7 (29:53):
Yeah. As many people know, we received about four and
a half million dollars in federal and state rants to
be able to expand the clinic over at Preston Memorial.
I just saw pictures literally this morning where the elevator
bay is constructed. We're going to be adding the other
construction around it that clinic. We're actually going to be
(30:14):
having a steel signing ceremony in mid December for that facility.
So we're really excited to be able to bring expanded
cancer care clinic space down to Preston Memorial, which has
seen extreme growth in its cancer program alone over since
we started it about two years ago.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
If you just isolate those two projects, David, what's the
investment there.
Speaker 7 (30:37):
It's about a six and a half million dollar investment
in Preston Memorial and shy of thirty two thirty five
million in Marion. I don't know. I'm sorry, Harrison, off
the top of my head. But when you add both
of those together, employing construction company personnel and the building
of it, I mean it's over forty million dollars of
(30:58):
construction those two alone, and then another almost ten million
dollars here at the medical center, all within the last year,
on top of routine capital that we.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Invest that those are impressive numbers. We've got Mond Health
President and CEO David Goldberg, also the executive vice president
of Vandelia Health. Sir, really do appreciate your time, and
I hope that you have a good Friday and a
great weekend.
Speaker 7 (31:23):
And seeing to you and all of our listeners and
happy healthy Thanksgiving wishes to everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yes, yes, sir, Hey, David really do appreciate your time.
Thank you so much anytime. Bye bye, yes, sir, bye bye.
President CEO Mond Health, David Goldberg certainly appreciate his time.
Clouds forty two degrees. When we come back, I'm going
to talk about an event that is just about a
week away. Want to give you plenty of time in
(31:48):
order to prepare. That is next on top of the town.
AM fourteen forty FM one four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's nine point fifty in the University City. Welcome back
to Talk of the Town. I'm Mike Nolting and don't
forget this weekend. It is quarter final high school playoff
football action and WAJR is the only place for completely
free coverage of each game. And of course tonight University
(32:33):
is at Huntington. We'll have that play by play coverage
right here on WAJR, following the city Net statewide sports line.
Then tomorrow one o'clock in the afternoon play by play
coverage of Morgantown and Spring Mills. That'll be at one o'clock.
And then following that contest, of course we'll have Clay
(32:55):
Battel taking on Work County. All those games live on
double you AJR and completely free. I might add now
coming up on the Saturday, December sixth, Morgantown based religious
organization that supports outreach to single mothers and those affected
(33:15):
by addiction having an event at the Cavalry Chapel Castle
on Tyrone Road. Now, Aaron Andtoni Marco lost their son
chase to an overdose following a stint in recovery at
the ARISE Addiction Recovery Service in the state of Maine.
(33:35):
Now Aaron and Tony they brought that a RISE program
to the Morgantown area through Cavalry Chapel Ministries and then
coming up on Saturday on the sixth of December, they
invite the community. Don't have to be a member of
the church, and as a matter of fact, you can
be maybe unsure of your religious status, but a register
(33:59):
for an ornament for the Tree of Hope, Grace and
Remembrance Memorial ceremony that'll happen at the Chapelcastle at six
thirty Saturday night. Now, this is for anyone that you
know that maybe looking for support. You might want to
tell them about this event. It'll be a tree lighting
and a matter of fact, you can go to cc
(34:22):
Morgantown dot com and get more details on this event
and while you're there you'll be able to register for
one of these ornaments. Now, when you register for an ornament,
you can do it completely anonymously and it doesn't obligate
you to attend either. There's absolutely no cost, So you
(34:42):
can go to cc Morgantown dot com. And you've got
your choice of three colors. You've got gold, purple, and
I believe blue. But gold is for sobriety. No, I'm sorry.
Gold and purple I think, oh, here we go. Gold
(35:06):
blue and purple blue means you're struggling. Gold is for
sobriety and purple is for remembrance. So you can register
for any of the ornaments that would apply to the
situation that you, a family member, or someone close to
you might be in. You don't have to leave your name,
you don't have to make a donation, and you don't
(35:27):
have to show up for the event. And just know
that there will be thinking people thinking and praying for
you and your cause. You can go to CC Morgantown
dot com and get more information about that event once again.
That is one week from tomorrow at the Cavalry Chapel,
Castle Tyrone Road at six thirty. If you'd like some
(35:51):
more information, you'd like to give them a call. That
number is three zero four seven seven seven three one
five five. We'll be back to wrap up the program
after this on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty
f N one oh four point five W A j R.
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