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GLEN DALE -- More Ohio Valley residents brought into WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital will find care in Glen Dale instead of needing to be transported elsewhere.
The hospital reopened its doors Monday morning to its renovated cardiovascular lab. And soon, hospital officials said, it will reopen the birth center that closed in 2013.
The lab now is equipped to handle a wider variety of heart issues. Hospital CEO David Hess described the catheterization lab as being a great benefit to the community because it allows people who need a catheterization to stay local and close to their loved ones.
"There's a perception in the community that, 'If I go to Reynolds, I'm going to get shipped to Morgantown," Hess said. "Because we've been able to bring our world-class specialists here, more than 95 percent of patients who come through the door at Reynolds stay at Reynolds.
"We've served hundreds and hundreds of people in our community," Hess said of the lab prior to its renovation.
"The nice thing about bringing it to the community is that it allows people to stay here, have friends and family here, and be by our side when these procedures bring anxiety. … WVU Medicine's intent is to bring services to the community so you can stay close to home and have those family and friends with you."
Hess said the Ohio Valley has a community with a great need for the service the hospital can offer.
"We know there's an incredible need in the community, where we have a lot of people at high risk, from diets, family history or smoking," he said. "We want to bring this type of access into our community so access is not a problem for them."
Dr. Walid Gharib, cardiovascular doctor at Reynolds, said the cath lab enables more complete imaging of the heart. That allows doctors greater ability to treat patients.
"You have to have the right tools," Gharib said. "We can really see the heart, see the valves, the blood vessels. It makes all the difference on how to better treat patients. … The system that was here before was older, which means there would often be increased radiation doses to the patient and staff, and inferior image quality. It's almost like going from a tube television to a 4K television."
The renovated lab will serve its first patient this morning.
"We're really excited about this, and I think it's going to be great for the people of the valley, and I look forward to being able to serve people right here in Glen Dale," Gharib said.
Hess said the reopening of the lab was the first of several changes coming to the hospital. The next step, he said, is a return to childbirth at Reynolds.
"There are many things on the horizon," he said. "In October, we're going to be delivering babies here again. We have a world class OB/GYN from UPMC who's already bought a house in the area, so she'll start delivering here in the beginning of October."