The problem with ‘Vandalia Health Center’

Opinion by Stephen Baldwin, RealWV

After Vandalia Health announced an agreement this week with the City of Charleston for naming rights to the Charleston Coliseum, cancel culture kicked in. 

People blasted “Vandalia Health Center” as the new name for the long-time event space. 

They said it would confuse the public since the coliseum’s new name sounds like a hospital. They said people might show up at a concert when they were trying to get to the doctor. They said the word “coliseum” should be added to the name. 

WIth all due respect, that misses the point entirely. 

In my opinion there is a serious problem with Vandalia Health Center, but it has nothing to do with the name. 

Call it whatever you want. If Vandalia is shelling out nearly $10 million for the 10-year deal, they get to choose the name. And the city will happily allow them to in order to access that revenue, which they can use to the benefit of the citizens. (This is a financial win for the city, for sure.)

No, the real problem is Vandalia celebrates committing nearly $10 million for naming rights when they can’t commit to delivering children in their own West Virginia hospitals. 

In the past year, they’ve closed two labor and delivery units. That’s more than 500 babies not being born in their communities. Dozens of nurses now working other jobs or moving away. Thousands of family members traveling an hour or more to be with the parents, who have already traveled that hour or two, sometimes under duress during labor. 

As reported, Vandalia says their hands were tied. They say they couldn’t recruit OB/GYNs to rural areas. They say paying traveling doctors and nurses was too expensive. They say they can meet the needs of moms and babies out of the “mothership” in Charleston. 

I get it. We all do. 

But then they commit to spending almost $10 million to name a building after their nonprofit health care company. C’mon. 

CEO Jeff Sandene told MetroNews, “We believe it’s a very important investment. It really supports ongoing recruitment.”

C’mon. 

Doctors may be more likely to come to West Virginia because their nonprofit hospital bought the naming rights to a place that hosts events, shows, and concerts? I just don’t see it. Doctors want to practice where they’re needed, respected, and resourced to do their work.  

Sandene continued, “We believe that this partnership not only extends the many ways in which we collaborate with the communities we serve, but that it also supports Vandalia Health’s vision of bringing the highest quality health care to our communities,” 

C’mon. 

How does the name of a coliseum in Charleston bring more collaboration to communities like mine in southern West Virginia? Actually bringing quality health care to West Virginia communities, like labor and delivery, seems like a more laudable and appropriate goal for a nonprofit health care company. And as a Vandalia patient myself, bringing high quality health care to communities would make me far more likely to support them than spending nearly $10 million on naming rights. 

For years, hospital administrators have told the state that they’re strapped for cash and fear the consequences of federal budget cuts. Now they have enough money for naming rights? 

C’mon. 

Vandalia officials insinuated at the announcement that the move would help build up their trust in West Virginia. 

C’mon. 

Providing more health care to those in need would build greater trust. According to recent reports, less than 1% of the health care Vandalia provides is charity care for those who cannot afford it.  

Respectfully, c’mon. 

Closing labor and delivery units while paying for a coliseum does not engender trust in a health care nonprofit. 

Providing high quality health care engenders trust. 

Health care is on a perilous path in this country and state. 

Vandalia’s larger competitor, WVU Hospitals, insinuated that they passed on the naming rights. You might expect me to congratulate them, but they also are expanding health care services in…Pennsylvania. 

C’mon. Plenty of places right here at home in West Virginia need more health care services. 

We need health care companies in West Virginia to provide health care in West Virginia. Not clinics in Pennsylvania. Not concert venues. 

Some $50 billion is being passed out by the administration of Gov. Patrick Morrisey now (and over the next four years) to health care providers. 

This is their time to shine. Their employees are top-notch, taking care of their fellow West Virginians each day. Will the companies invest in those employees and our communities to provide health care? Time will tell, and we are watching.