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Hospital Workers In Huntington Strike Against Benefits Rollback

Union workers for Cabell Huntington Hospital went on strike Wednesday after contract negotiations fell through.

District 1199 of the Service Employee International Union announced that 1,000 clinical, service and maintenance workers voted to strike last month.

Since then, the union and the hospital have not been able to agree on a contract, which has now expired.

Union leaders say grievances against the hospital include an overall cut to benefits and regular disrespect to employees from management.

Yvonne Brooks, a union delegate, has worked with the hospital for 37 years. She says Cabell Huntington left employees with no choice but to strike.

“We’re taking care of this community, we want to continue to take care of the community. And it’s devastating to us to know that we’ve been pushed to the wall,” Brooks said.

Nurses are contractually unable to walk out, but many of them are supporting the strike as they can.

“We’ve had nurses that have been dropping off everything from firewood to food to water, just different supplies that we need,” said Amy Hayslett, an administrative organizer for SEIU District 1199. “But the best support that they can give them is just raising them up.”

SEIU District 1199 represents 1,000 clinical, service and maintenance workers at Cabell Huntington Hospital.

Workers say the hospital is scaling back their once guaranteed health insurance coverage for past and present employees. This will result in raised health insurance costs for multiple generations of retired workers.

The union says hospital workers have not gone on strike since 1998. Cabell Huntington Hospital is one of the top employers in the Huntington area.

The hospital administration says the strike hasn’t impacted daily operations. The hospital has hired more temporary workers to replace those walking out.

“We are disappointed that the comprehensive offer made by the hospital to the members of SEIU District 1199 Service unit was not ratified [Tuesday]. Cabell Huntington Hospital has worked in good faith since August,” said Tim Martin, the hospital’s Chief Operating Officer. “We welcome any members of the Service unit who wish to come to work to do so.”

WVU To Spend $110 Million Rebuilding Fairmont Medical Center

A hospital that almost shut down last year is now expanding under new ownership. West Virginia University Health System announced Friday that it would invest $110 million in the Fairmont Medical Center.

Over the course of about five years, WVU plans to completely rebuild the Marion County hospital “in place”, which was originally built in the 1930s.

“Every window in this facility needs replaced, every roof needs replaced, just about every pipe needs replaced,” said Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System and West Virginia University Hospitals.

Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System (left), shakes hands with Gov. Jim Justice in Fairmont.

More than 60 beds will be added, totalling 110 when work is done. Hundreds more employees will be hired, said Wright, speaking at a Friday news conference.

The hospital will provide comprehensive care to the county of more than 50,000 people. Wright said the hospital currently serves about 55 patients a day.

The announcement comes roughly one year after WVU took over operations of the struggling hospital. The Times West Virginian reports that the hospital closed in March 2020 under California-based former owner Alecto Healthcare Services LLC. The company said the hospital was hemorrhaging money.

WVU reopened the hospital in June 2020 as a 10-bed emergency room, operating as a satellite of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.

Gov. Jim Justice joined Wright today in making the announcement. He said saving the regional hospital was a heroic feat for all those involved.

“It would have been a shame beyond belief that you wouldn’t have had a community full-service hospital in Marion County,” he said. “This is a wonderful story of how good people worked really, really hard… these people deserve so much credit.”

Community-Based Health Care Center Plans To Buy Williamson Hospital

A local health center has plans to buy the Williamson Memorial Hospital in Mingo County after the hospital announced Monday plans to close at some point in April.

An offer from the Williamson Health and Wellness Center to purchase the hospital for $3.68 million was approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday, April 1.

The judge has yet to sign the order, according to attorney Mike Hissam, from the legal firm representing the health and wellness center. He added they are planning to close the deal by April 30.

The center had to pay half a million dollars as a deposit and submit financial information to prove their purchasing capability for the court to approve their offer.

The hospital, which dates back to 1918, began bankruptcy proceedings in February, according to the Associated Press. It’s uncertain at this time if they will have to close temporarily before the Williamson Health and Wellness Center purchase.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the original announcement of closure of the hospital was met with concern from several elected officials, including Gov. Jim Justice.

“They plan to continue critical functions at the hospital and add new services,” Justice said in a written news release on Wednesday. “It’s a real blessing for Williamson and Mingo County and I am extremely appreciative and thankful.”

Administration for the current hospital leadership has not responded to requests from West Virginia Public Broadcasting since the announcement for closure came out on Monday.

“We’re excited about the opportunity for the community to retain this asset,” said Darrin McCormick, an executive assistant to the health and wellness center’s CEO on Wednesday. “The hospital is a substantial employer in the community.”

In a written statement Wednesday afternoon, the center said it has “exciting plans to preserve the hospital’s critical functions” while expanding the center’s own existing programs and services.

The Williamson Health and Wellness Center is a federal qualified health center, meaning it is a community based provider that operates on federal funding to provide primary care to under-served areas.

According to the Health Resources and Service Administration in charge of that funding, these centers “must meet a stringent set of requirements, including providing care on a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay and operating under a governing board that includes patients.”

Williamson Health and Wellness Center serves Mingo County and Pike County in Kentucky, offering behavioral, dental, pediatric, podiatric, nutritional and other primary care.

McCormick said Wednesday having access to an emergency room and a trauma center, both of which Williamson Memorial offers, is important. The city of Williamson itself is near the Logan Regional Medical Center and the Pikeville Medical Center, both of which can be less accessible for some of Mingo County’s more remote communities.

The Williamson Memorial Hospital is not the first facility to announce closure this year. In February, leadership for the Fairmont Regional Medical Center in Marion County broke the news they were closing in March.

WVU Medicine later announced plans to open a new Fairmont facility in roughly two years. The college also said it plans to use the existing facility if additional space is needed to treat patients due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Medicaid Cuts Could Reduce Hospital Profits from Low-Income Care

A West Virginia Hospital Association official says the state’s hospitals stand to lose up to $15 million toward treating low-income patients if federal cuts to a Medicaid program remain in place.

The Herald-Dispatch reports the first level of cuts is estimated at $12 million to $15 million. Joe Letnaunchyn, president and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association, says the reduction would impact all West Virginia hospitals, not just those in rural areas.

The cuts would amount to a 15 percent reduction in federal reimbursements for “safety net” hospitals that treat a disproportionate percentage of Medicaid or uninsured patients regardless of their ability to pay for care.

Although the state’s public hospitals will potentially shoulder more of a burden in treating indigent patients, Letnaunchyn says the reductions will not impact the care that patients receive.