OB closure not on agenda at GVMC board meeting
By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
FAIRLEA, WV – On Monday afternoon, at the monthly Board of Trustees meeting for Greenbrier Valley Medical Center (GVMC), several community members attended in hopes of learning more about the decision to close the labor & delivery unit at the hospital next month.
“I thought it was really important to join this meeting today because I personally work for a talent attraction and retention program to help address the population loss in West Virginia,” said Kirstin Cole. “Coming to this meeting today meant everything to prepare for the future and telling future West Virginians what our county is facing right now.”
The board meeting lasted approximately 45 minutes, including around 30 minutes of time in executive session when the community members and media were asked to leave. The only mention of the closure of the labor and delivery unit during the meeting came from Becky Harless, Vice President for Vandalia, who reiterated GVMC’s intention to close the unit on April 24.
No board members asked questions of Harless about the announced closure timeline during the public portion of the meeting. The issue was not addressed further publicly.
RealWV asked board members individually after the meeting for comment on the closure of the labor and unit.
Kelly Collins, CEO of the State Fair of West Virginia, declined comment. Robert McClintic, CEO for Kissito Health Care, also declined comment.
Chad Hovis, Vice President of Finance for Vandalia, said, “I think it’s unfortunate for the community to go without OB (obstetrics) service. We have discussed the community impact and financial impact to the facility (in past meetings).”
RealWV requested access to GVMC’s public financial information following the meeting, and Trinity Gray, Secretary of the Board, agreed to provide it in the coming days.
Several employees of the obstetrics unit, which houses labor and delivery, attended the meeting as members of the public, hoping to hear news about the planned closure. When the board went into executive session, they left to return to work.
Sarah Morris, a local small business owner and caregiver, who is also running for House of Delegates as a Democrat in District 47, attended to learn more and said the message conveyed by the meeting was clear to her. “It just felt like it (closure of labor and delivery) was glossed over. Ok, moving on…nothing you can do about it.”
Hovis added that the topic didn’t garner further debate today because “it’s been discussed extensively in past meetings.”
Callie Isenberg, who also works at a talent attraction and retention program for West Virginia alongside Cole, shared her frustration with the situation, while the public waited outside during executive session.
“Losing the labor and delivery ward is going to have a very big impact on the job that we perform,” she said. “Bringing young families here, which we need to help grow our school systems, to grow our community, to address population loss, that’s something that a lot of people look at. If they’re thinking about having children in the future or have children now, not having access to that is a big impact. We wanted to see the reasons why, what’s going on, how it can be addressed, and how things might change in the future.”
Cole, who works with individuals every day as part of her job to recruit and retain talent in the state, said this is a hot topic with her clients. “I’ve already had some members leave recently because of access to health care. Having this news in the town I grew up in is heartbreaking and scary for the future of West Virginia.”
Stay tuned to RealWV for further updates.
