Expansion at Trinity
It was just a little more than five years ago when Matt Grimshaw stood outside of Trinity Medical Center West and took part in the ceremonial groundbreaking for an expansion project at the hospital.
“It really is a leap of faith,” Grimshaw, Trinity’s president and CEO said on that March day in 2019. “But we believe we are uniquely positioned to make it happen … It has the potential to transform the health care landscape, not only for today, but for generations to come.”
Plans at the time called for the five-story, 183,000-plus-square-foot addition to be finished in two years. Things didn’t quite work out that way, for many reasons, including COVID-19.
None of that mattered Wednesday, though, when the Rev. Drake McCalister of Holy Family Catholic Church offered a blessing and the ceremonial ribbon was cut to officially open the completed patient tower project.
“The pandemic threw us a huge curve ball,” Grimshaw said while standing in front of the hospital’s new entrance on Wednesday. “We had a lot of handwringing and stressful months not knowing if this project was going to get done. We persevered — and after coming through the material shortages and labor shortages, it seemed like it was one challenge after another.”
The addition represents a big change for local health care. It’s a state-of-the-art facility. Each of the 88 rooms — all private — is designed to allow the medical professionals to do their work in a highly efficient manner. There’s plenty of space in each, and the beds are set at an angle so that patients are able to look outside through windows that have been designed to let natural light fill the room. There’s a large bathroom, which includes a shower, in each of the rooms.
Same with the staff break rooms, where floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of natural light and help give the area an open feel.
That’s into addition to new public spaces and a surgical services hub and other amenities.
The facility will make a difference in treatment, as speakers, including Jerry Simpson, pointed out during Wednesday’s ceremonies. Simpson, the immediate past president of the Trinity Health System Foundation, said the addition to the hospital will have a big impact.
“We are charged with raising money for facilities and different equipment,” Simpson said.
“So, when you turn around and you see something like this, that makes my job much easier, because you see the fruition of what everybody has done. This is awesome — this is game-changing, this is something to be proud of.”
It’s something, he said, that will touch the lives of everyone in the community for years to come.
“I’m proud to be from the Ohio Valley,” Simpson continued. “Everybody here has chosen to live their lives and work in the Ohio Valley, so I applaud you for doing that. This is something you are going to be able to bring your children, your parents, your grandchildren to — you’re going to bring them to this facility.”
Grimshaw, speaking in 2019, said that the project was the culmination of a decades-old dream to consolidate the campuses of the former Ohio Valley Hospital and St. John Medical Center, which merged to form Trinity in 1997. The architectural design of the addition takes cues from Trinity East (Ohio Valley) and West (St. John.)
When the project was announced in June of 2018, Grimshaw said it would be transformational and be a starting point for further growth.
“We believe this new building allows us to deliver health care in a way that no one else in the region can, or will, in the near future,” Grimshaw explained then.
He echoed those thoughts on Wednesday.
“The exciting piece about this is really two-fold,” Grimshaw said. “One, it helps us to replace a bunch of aging infrastructure, and that must be done at some point.
“With all of the changes in how we take care of patients, having a modern building with modern infrastructure allows us to do things that we don’t even know yet,” he added. “So, designing a building that is flexible and has all of the technology and the power that can supply future services was vital.”
Trinity East, he said, will continue to be utilized.
“It helps us bring things that were over at East to this campus — we’ll be consolidating all of our 24-hour services during the next several months with moving services from East to West. It will improve the quality and the services available.”
That’s important, Grimshaw said, for area residents.
“This really is a building that is designed around patients,” he said. “It is all about bringing natural light into spaces, open spaces, private spaces. It’s designed to be a true healing environment, and I think that changes lives. So, we’re excited about this, not just for today, but for generations to come. We believe this truly cements health care in Steubenville indefinitely. That survives far beyond us, and it’s really the backbone of any thriving community.”
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)