photo by: Niamh Coomey

Dr. William Mercer, surrounded by Project HOPE volunteers, addresses the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health during their meeting Tuesday at the City-County Building.

WHEELING — After a lively discussion Tuesday, the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health will begin looking into what a proposed split from local street medicine program Project HOPE would entail.

Dr. William Mercer, who started Project HOPE, has been advocating for the volunteer-based project to split off from the health department for several years. The board unanimously approved a motion to start research on the legal, ethical and financial aspects of the suggested move so they can discuss it further.

Mercer said Project HOPE has “outgrown” what the health department is able to provide and would like to see it expand to better serve the needs of Wheeling’s homeless community.

Mercer and volunteers, some of whom were present at Tuesday’s meeting, are looking to instead partner with Catholic Charities, an established statewide social services provider.

During the meeting, Wheeling-Ohio County Health Administrator Howard Gamble said several times that the board does not currently have a reason to cut Project HOPE loose from the health department’s oversight.

The board is responsible for determining whether to dissolve the volunteer organization, bid it out to a private entity, or continue running it as it stands now, Gamble said.

“(Project HOPE’s) funds are raised in the name of the county health department, because Project HOPE is a program of the county health department,” Gamble said. “So we have to treat that as we do with any other program and try to be good stewards of those dollars and the program itself.”

Mercer said Project HOPE has a demand for more full-time staff to handle administrative needs and offer primary care, which he feels would work better and pay more under a different, private entity.

The health department previously had someone in an oversight position for Project HOPE who is no longer in the position and has not been replaced, Gamble said.

This position was made exempt from the civil service system, so there were constraints on the number of hours the individual was able to work, making it a part-time position. This also meant the health department was able to compensate them without limitations, unlike other public employees.

Mercer has made it clear that should the split happen, he would want to maintain a partnership with the health department so that Project HOPE can continue offering its needle exchange program and vaccines to patients.

Mercer said he felt there was good conversation at Tuesday’s meeting and he is hopeful that after looking into how a separation can be done, the board decides to move forward with it.

“It’s a win-win. We’re all trying to help our community and there’s a certain population that have unmet medical needs that we can serve,” Mercer said. “It’s not like we can be taking people or patients away from other providers. These are the hard-to-treat and hard-to-find.”

Gamble said immediate next steps for the board will be seeking the opinion of state ethics and audit experts, as well as legal counsel. Conversations about these findings will continue at upcoming board meetings.