WVU Hospitals plans $248 mil expansion

West Virginia University Hospitals has announced plans for a $248 million expansion that will create 139 new patient beds and could provide up to 750 permanent jobs for local residents.

The four-year project will include the construction of a 10-story tower, which will work to address capacity issues and improve health care needs by enhancing departments such as the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

"Support and patient care services throughout the hospital will be expanded and improved. Once the project is completed, the hospital will have a new and significantly expanded emergency department that will provide enhanced support to the Trauma Center, which treats approximately 4,000 trauma patients a year," said President and Chief Executive Officer Bruce McClymonds.

"NICU will be substantially expanded and upgraded, enabling WVU Healthcare professionals to provide high quality care to an increasing number of premature infants."

WVU President James P. Clements and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin attended a press conference Friday to announce the expansion plans.

Tomblin expressed his hopes for what he calls "a giant step forward in patient care."

"These 750 good jobs, with benefits, show that West Virginia is moving forward," Tomblin said. "These are good-paying jobs and they're jobs that will save lives."

McClymonds said the project will continue to benefit the state's economic status.

"WVU Healthcare is an enormous force for economic advancement in West Virginia," McClymonds said. " The completion of this project will enable more West Virginians to stay in the state for their care and will create an additional 750 high paying jobs at an estimated annual payroll of over $60 million."

The expansion will require the construction of a new

Rosenbaum Family House and Child Development Center and will also result in expanded food service and conference spaces, as well as additional elevators, parking and campus roadways.

All patient rooms will also become privatized.

McClymonds said with state-of-the-art renovations in the works, WVU health care services has the potential to attract more and more patients in need across the country.

"The best health care is ‘local,' assuming the services and expertise are available to provide care to those patients," McClymonds said.

"WVU health care has been expanding its scope of specialty services enabling more patients to stay in the state for their care. We expect that trend to continue in the future, resulting in an increasing demand for health care services from WVU."

Dr. Christopher Colenda, chancellor for WVU Health Sciences, said the expansion will also benefit the University's educational efforts and outreach programs.

"Increasing state-of-the-art clinical care space will allow us to enhance our 21st century academic health system," Colenda said. "It impacts everything we do – from research to clinical care to educating future generations of health care providers."