Richwood Area Community Hospital

Richwood Area Community Hospital
Former type	Private
Industry	Medical
Founded	1954
Defunct	2008 [1]
Headquarters	Richwood, West Virginia
Area served	Eastern Nicholas County, West Virginia
Number of employees	100

Last updated February 18, 2019

Richwood Area Community Hospital was a hospital located in Richwood, West Virginia. Prior to its closing in June 2008, it served that city and several surrounding communities.^[1]

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized medical and nursing staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire and accident victims to a sudden illness. A district hospital typically is the major health care facility in its region, with a large number of beds for intensive care and additional beds for patients who need long-term care. Specialized hospitals include trauma centers, rehabilitation hospitals, children's hospitals, seniors' (geriatric) hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric treatment and certain disease categories. Specialized hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals. Hospitals are classified as general, specialty, or government depending on the sources of income received.

Richwood is a city in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States. In 2010, the census showed Richwood with a population of 2,051. During the 19th and early 20th century Richwood was a booming coal and lumber town. Richwood has a very rich history, including the formation of the Cherry River Navy civic organization to draw attention to issues important to the community. Richwood has also became known statewide as the "Ramp Capital of the World". Each year, in April, the city hosts a large festival that draws visitors from around the country.

West Virginia is a state located in the Appalachian region in the Southern United States and is also considered to be a part of the Middle Atlantic States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland to the east and northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. West Virginia is the 41st largest state by area, and is ranked 38th in population. The capital and largest city is Charleston.

RACH was known as Sacred Heart Hospital when it opened in 1954. The hospital later changed its name to Richwood Area Medical Center when it was purchased by Charleston Area Medical Center. The hospital adopted its current name when CAMC sold the hospital to a community consortium. RACH is assisted by two of West Virginia's largest hospitals, CAMC and Raleigh General Hospital in Beckley for more serious injuries. For health concerns that are not life-threatening but cannot be treated at RACH, patients are sent to nearby Summersville Memorial Hospital in Summersville.

Charleston Area Medical Center Hospital in West Virginia, United States

Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) is the name of a complex of hospitals in Charleston, West Virginia, formed via a merger of previously independent facilities. It is the state's largest hospital.

Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. Beckley was named in honor of John James Beckley, who was the first Clerk of the House of Representatives and the first Librarian of Congress. It was founded by his son Alfred Beckley (US Army general and Confederate militia commander. The current mayor is Rob Rappold.

Summersville is a city in Nicholas County, West Virginia, USA. The population was 3,572 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nicholas County.

Since its establishment in 1954 as a Catholic Hospital and changing to a public facility, RACH has grown smaller along with the area's shrinking population and dwindling workforce. With less patients to care for the hospital has been undergoing some changes in how to provide the best and most efficient healthcare it possibly can even during its hard times. In early 2002 the hospital joined with Charleston's main hospital to provide the new technology of allowing patients to see a doctor in Charleston without having to travel the long distance to the hospital. For most minor issues the implication was fairly successful. Another trial that has proved costly for the hospital has been the housing of elderly care patients from the overflowing nursing home nearby. Two and a half floors of RACH are dedicated to elderly patient care which has waved confidence in potential patients for using RACH as their stop for healthcare as many assume the hospital will lack in provided care to the young adults and children due to its high population of elderly patients.

In 2005 the hospital with donations and funding from the state through a grant written by board member Jimmy Gladwell, and funding from the hospital itself, paved way for a much needed helipad to help in the shipment of patients to Charleston, West Virginia, Beckley, and even Morgantown's Ruby Memorial Hospital. The helipad was a much needed addition to the aging hospital's need to provide better care.

Charleston is the most populous city in, and the capital of, the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the population during the 2016 Census Estimate was 49,138. The Charleston metropolitan area as a whole had 217,916 residents. Charleston is the center of government, commerce, and industry for Kanawha County, of which it is the county seat.

Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the banks of the Monongahela River. It is known as the home of West Virginia University and the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system. With a permanent population of 31,073 per the 2015 U.S. Census estimates, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia. The Morgantown metropolitan area has a population of 138,176.

Clinic

In 2004 the hospital took the route to help improve the health and well being of patients who cannot afford health care. In the spring of 2004 the hospital opened the Rural Health Clinic which is located on the 4th floor of the hospital providing health care to those in need or who cannot afford the high costs of seeing a private doctor. The clinic has proved to be successful, but has not been the moneymaker that the hospital needs to improve facilities and to offer more treatments and options for those in need.

Facilities

The hospital is one of the tallest buildings within Nicholas County standing with 5 floors. The hospital in its prime was one of the best outfitted facilities in eastern West Virginia serving the rural areas of Nicholas, northern Greenbrier, Pocahontas, and Webster counties. Since then the building has deteriorated and in need of much needed upgrades. The 50-year-old structure has not been improved in years the last being the update to the 4th floor for the clinic and the emergency room area being reworked to better treatments. There have been rumors that the hospital is in the works to build a new state-of-the-art facility within Richwood, but nothing has come to light if and when this will start. The hospital still has one of the highest amount of beds available to patient care within Nicholas County only trailing Summersville Memorial Hospital by only a few beds.

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References

1 2 Hanna, Pat (May 7, 2008). "Richwood hospital to close". Beckley Register-Herald . Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2010.

External links

Hospital website

Coordinates: 38°13′13″N80°32′44″W / 38.22028°N 80.54556°W / 38.22028; -80.54556 (Richwood Area Community Hospital)

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[Hanna-1] 1 2 Hanna, Pat (May 7, 2008). "Richwood hospital to close". Beckley Register-Herald . Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2010.