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New Nursing Care Center in Wheeling Named for Bishop Bransfield

Photo by Heather Ziegler The Bishop Michael J. Bransfield Continuous Care Center of Wheeling was formally dedicated and blessed Saturday

WHEELING — Private rooms for every patient, welcoming gardens and a spectacular mountaintop view are just some of the amenities awaiting residents and visitors at the new Bishop Michael J. Bransfield Continuous Care Center of Wheeling Hospital. The new facility was unveiled Saturday afternoon. The bishop presided at the blessing and dedication ceremony attended by about 100 invited guests.

The three-story, 107,000-square-foot nursing care facility rests atop a hill overlooking Wheeling Hospital and the surrounding area. It will be opened for patient care in several weeks. The new $34 million center was designed by Stantec, the same architectural firm that designed the hospital’s seven-story building — Tower 5 — which opened in 2012.

Marks Landau served as the building contractor for the new center.

The current Bishop Joseph Hodges Continuous Care facility will be refurbished and eventually house the hospital’s physical therapy department.

“The new center is the most modern, patient- and family-friendly nursing center anywhere. Every inch of the building was designed with the highest level of care and comfort in mind, and for the convenience of patients and their loved ones,” said Wheeling Hospital CEO Ron Violi.

“We are proud to have named the new center after Bishop Bransfield. It was his vision to build a much larger, more comfortable setting for our patients. His determination to enhance the care of our patients within a homelike atmosphere was unrelenting. Area residents will find the center amazing,” he added.

The center is three times larger than the current facility and provides 144 private patient rooms, 20 more than the Bishop Hodges Continuous Care Center currently operating on the hospital campus. The new facility also features two outdoor landscaped courtyards; a large chapel; five patient/family lounges; a healing garden; five restaurant-style dining rooms; a spa with hair salon and jet tub; two patient activity rooms; a large, fully equipped physical therapy center; state-of-the-art main kitchens; and four smaller country kitchens.

Bransfield thanked everyone involved in the project, with special appreciation given to Violi, Monsignor Kevin Quirk, hospital board president, Dr. Angelo Georges, chief medical officer at the hospital, and the hospital staff.

“I didn’t know about the name … you probably should have asked me first,” Bransfield quipped. “A whole lot of people won’t believe it.”

Calling it a spectacular day, Bransfield said since he came to the diocese in 2005, he has made it his focus to advance health care in the local community and throughout the state. He credits Violi’s business savvy for bringing about the addition of medical tower 12 at the hospital and now, for the nursing facility that continues their quest to “take care of people for generations to come.”

Bransfield expressed his thanks to everyone involved who got the job done. He said they battled weather issues, money obstacles and sometimes not having workers show up. But the bottom line was “Ron moved a mountain for this.”

The bishop, who is looking toward retirement, said he is pleased and humbled the new nursing facility will be part of his legacy as leader of the Catholic faithful in West Virginia.

Violi said it was after he and the bishop toured the Bishop Hodges Continuous Care Center that they quickly determined change was needed. Rather than remodel, they decided they had to build a new facility. The rest is now in the history books.

Quirk said bishops of the diocese have always been part of health care in the state. “The diocese has been an integral part of serving Christ, being His healing force,” Quirk noted. “It’s one thing to care for people, it’s another thing to care for them well.”

The dedication and blessing ceremony Saturday included hymns and scripture readings by center administrators. A reception and tours of the facility also were held.

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