Richwood Area Community Hospital is a former hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 located in Richwood

Richwood, West Virginia

Richwood is a city in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,477 at the 2000 census. A former coal and lumber boom town, the city's population once flirted with 10,000 but the closure of many underground coal mines caused many of Richwood's residents to leave the state...

, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

. Prior to its closing in June 2008, it served that city and several surrounding communities.

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

Charleston Area Medical Center

Charleston Area Medical Center 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....

. The hospital adopted its current name when CAMC sold the hospital to a community consortium. RACH is assisted by two of West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

's largest hospitals, CAMC and Raleigh General Hospital in Beckley

Beckley, West Virginia

Beckley is a city in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States, which was founded on April 4, 1838. The 2008 population was estimated to be 16,832 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Early in its history, the town was known as Beckleyville and Raleigh Court House...

 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

Summersville, West Virginia

Summersville is a town in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,194 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nicholas County.-Geography:...

.

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 and the hospital itself paved way for a much needed helipad to help in the shipment of patients to Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

, Beckley

Beckley, West Virginia

Beckley is a city in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States, which was founded on April 4, 1838. The 2008 population was estimated to be 16,832 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Early in its history, the town was known as Beckleyville and Raleigh Court House...

, and even Morgantown

Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...

's Ruby Memorial Hospital. The helipad was a much needed addition to the aging hospital's need to provide better care. The hospital is right now in the process of a fund-raising campaign to help purchase state-of-the-art medical treatment equipment to begin treating new cases and to improve treatment of current cases that are able to be treated within the hospital

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 came 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.

External links

• Hospital website