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Signage celebrates union

Marks affiliation of WVU Medicine, Uniontown Hospital

WVU Today

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — Officials from the WVU Health System and Uniontown Hospital gathered Friday to celebrate their affiliation agreement with the unveiling of new signage on the Hospital’s Fayette County campus.

 “The new signs have been one of the most poorly kept secrets in town for the simple fact that we’ve been too excited for our partnership with WVU Medicine to keep it quiet,” Steve Handy, Uniontown Hospital CEO, said. “Our new signs have a connection with our nearly 120-year heritage and a promise of the future. We are embracing the new ‘us’ that the signage represents because it holds a promise of stability, clinical growth and coordinated care. We will be here caring for our friends, neighbors and family always.”

In January, Uniontown Hospital announced its intent to join the WVU Health System, and in May, following the receipt of all required regulatory approvals, the Hospital entered into a management agreement with WVU Hospitals. Under the management agreement, Handy became an employee of WVU Hospitals.

“We appreciate the excitement that the employees of Uniontown Hospital and the residents of Fayette County have shown since we made our announcement at the beginning of the year,” Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System, said. “Our proximity to each other makes this a natural fit, and we look forward to building upon the great care that Uniontown Hospital has been delivering for decades. It’s a win for everyone.”

In addition to Handy and Wright, Gordon Gee, WVU president and chair of the WVU Health System Board of Directors, and Nancy Decker, chair of the Uniontown Hospital Board of Directors, spoke at the event.

Founded in 1902, Uniontown Hospital is a 145-bed facility that employs more than 200 physicians and advanced practice providers representing more than 30 medical specialties. Services provided at the Hospital include cancer care; cardiology and heart catheterization; emergency medicine; infusion services; inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation; medical/surgical care, including orthopaedics; stroke care; and wound healing. The Hospital also offers complete diagnostic services, including laboratory, cardiac diagnostics and open and high field MRI, PET/CT and digital mammography.

The West Virginia University Health System, West Virginia’s largest health system and largest private employer, is comprised of 12 hospitals — its flagship hospital, J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown and Fairmont Medical Center in Fairmont; Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg; Braxton County Memorial Hospital in Gassaway; Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg; Jackson General Hospital in Ripley; Jefferson Medical Center in Ranson; Potomac Valley Hospital in Keyser; Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale; St. Joseph’s Hospital in Buckhannon; Summersville Regional Medical Center in Summersville; United Hospital Center in Bridgeport; and Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville. 

It also provides management services to Barnesville Hospital in Barnesville, Ohio; Garrett Regional Medical Center in Oakland, Md.; Harrison Community Hospital in Cadiz, Ohio; Highland-Clarksburg Hospital in Clarksburg; Uniontown Hospital; and Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling. 

The WVU Health System also includes five institutes — the WVU Cancer Institute, the WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute, the WVU Eye Institute, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute and the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. 

Info: WVUMedicine.org.