Leaders: Arrow Pointing Up for Marshall County
Shelley Hanson Trending
MOUNDSVILLE -- Marshall County Chamber of Commerce members learned Thursday the state of Marshall County is moving in a positive direction with investments occurring by businesses large and small.
The chamber's annual State of Marshall County breakfast was held at Grand Vue Park's conference center.
The event featured several speakers including Douglass Harrison, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals; Shelby Haines, superintendent of Marshall County Schools; Mike Ferro, president of the Marshall County Commission; Valerie Piko, program development manager for the Regional Economic Development Partnership; Jennifer Rohrig, manager of Business Retention and Expansion with the West Virginia Department of Economic Development; and Bob Straub, president of the board of directors for the Greater Moundsville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The event was hosted by chamber Executive Director Scott Reager.
Harrison said he's been leading WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital for 4½ years and WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial for two years. Significant investments to improve WVU Medicine Reynolds are under way, including the restructuring of five operating rooms and two special procedure rooms at $22 million.
A helipad was also installed last week because of the "phenomenal" growth at the hospital. In the past, patients would be shipped out, but now they are being brought in via medical helicopter, he said.
"Because of that growth we now have incoming flights," he said. "I was part of the acquisition team in 2015; if you would have told me that Reynolds Memorial would have ever had an inbound patient to receive care I would have laughed.
"But here we are, and to the point we had to build a helipad for safety for our navigators with Healthnet so they can land at all hours of the day."
Also, a new roof is anticipated to cost $600,000 and a new boiler will cost $2.6 million.
"We're spending millions. It would have been much cheaper to build a new hospital, but that was not an option," he said.
Both hospitals are working hard on retention and recruitment, he noted. In addition to bringing in new specialist doctors, the hospitals continue to search for people to fill nursing and medical tech roles as well.
"We need people to take care of our aging population," he said.
During her talk, Haines addressed some of the most popular questions she's been asked recently on the street. The first is related to the new activity passes the Marshall County School District created for this academic year. The passes allow residents to enter sports games, musical and theater and other events for free. The district allocated money to cover the cost of admission to these events. As they are scanned the money is tracked and given back to those programs.
The passes were meant to be a thank you to residents for supporting tax levies approved by voters, along with encouraging residents and parents of students to attend events.
She noted to date 425 passes have been used at Cameron High School football games, and 1,400 passes have been used at John Marshall games.
Haines also talked about the many construction projects the district had this summer. She noted the much anticipated new indoor swimming pool construction still is planned.
The district's curriculum for students looks much different from decades ago, she said, as technology and hands-on approaches to learning are being used every day. For example, elementary and middle school students having coding camps for robotics.
"You think robotics, well these kids are just playing. Has anyone had a surgery lately done by robotics? Because these are the kids who are going to be doing that," she said.
Ferro said the county commission has tried to be fiscally conservative and spend taxpayers' dollars wisely. He said doing so has allowed the commission to help pay for needed items such as new equipment, emergency vehicles, training, increased salaries and more. Interior and exterior renovations to the courthouse also continue. Construction of a new health department also is under way.
Ferro said the county is beginning a new program to repair and replace fire hydrants across the county.
Piko said RED is a private, non-profit group that helps county commissions with economic development. She noted RED now owns the former Teletech building in Moundsville, adding it is filling up with tenants.
Piko said she often works with Rohrig. Rohrig said her role is to help businesses get the information and tools they need to move into West Virginia. Regarding economic development, Rohrig believes it is everyone's job to spread positive news regarding new businesses and companies opening in the state. She encouraged people who talk about it online to use the hashtag, #YesWestVirginia.
She noted two new foreign companies are planning to still build facilities in Marshall County. This includes India-based TCL Specialities, which plans to build a petrochemical plant and a separate food ingredient plant.
Straub said tourism is doing well in the county and has not suffered because of COVID or more recently, inflation.
"People are still traveling," he said.