File photo by Alan Olson Employees at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling held a candle light vigil just before the hospital closed Sept. 4.

WHEELING — The region has faced a major headache with the closure of three area hospitals in 2019.

Belmont Community Hospital in Bellaire closed permanently on April 5, after years of declining usage. A division of Wheeling Hospital, it had served the area for 105 years.

Meanwhile, two financially-troubled medical institutions — Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry — closed abruptly in September. Both facilities were owned by Alecto Healthcare Services, a for-profit company based in Irvine, California.

Also shut down on the OVMC campus were its Hillcrest in-patient behavioral health unit and its Robert C. Byrd Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health Center, which had been the Ohio Valley’s only area hospital-based in-patient youth psychiatric and behavioral health facility.

As a result of those closures, adults and youth requiring in-patient behavioral health care have had to seek help elsewhere in West Virginia, resulting in lengthy trips for law enforcement personnel who transport patients who are committed to distant sites.

The hospital closures, particularly that of OVMC and EORH, left patients scrambling to find new health care sites. Physicians, nurses and support staff had to seek employment and office space elsewhere. Some of the displaced hospital workers have been hired by other medical providers in the area.

In response to the health care crisis, Wheeling Hospital, WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale, WVU Medicine Barnesville Hospital, Harrison Community Hospital in Cadiz, Trinity Health System in Steubenville and Weirton Medical Center have stepped up their efforts to meet the area’s medical needs.

WVU Medicine Reynolds is preparing to open an in-patient behavioral health unit in 2020. The hospital in Glen Dale also plans to establish a black lung clinic to replace one that operated at EORH.

Belmont Community, a 99-bed acute care facility, was acquired by Wheeling Hospital in 1996. At the time of its closure, Belmont Community employed 93 people. Wheeling Hospital offered positions to those employees within its system where job openings were available.

Six area health centers that operated under BCH have remained open. Those health centers are located in St. Clairsville, Bellaire, Shadyside, Colerain, Bridgeport and Powhatan Point.

To meet needs of patients in Belmont County, Wheeling Hospital expanded the offerings at the stand-alone health center in Bellaire.

In addition, Trinity Health System reopened EORH’s former medical offices in St. Clairsville and established a health clinic in Bellaire.

Acuity Specialty Hospital continues to offer long-term acute care at the former Belmont Community Hospital building in Bellaire. Acuity, which has three area sites, operates under an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

The former Belmont Community Hospital opened as Bellaire City Hospital in 1914. The first expansion to the facility occurred in 1956 with a final building addition in 1972.

OVMC closed its doors on Sept. 4, while EORH ceased taking patients on Sept. 27. At that time, the facilities had a combined total of about 900 employees.

Alecto Healthcare Services purchased both hospitals from Ohio Valley Health Services and Education Corp. on June 1, 2017.

OVMC, known originally as the City Hospital of Wheeling, opened in 1892. Later, it was renamed Ohio Valley General Hospital. It became Ohio Valley Medical Center in 1973.

East Ohio Regional Hospital was founded in 1906 as Martins Ferry Hospital. It was renamed after being acquired by the former OVHS&E.