Published: November 08, 2009 11:01 pm      

New hospital gets thumbs-up

Public likes what it sees during Western Maryland Regional Medical Center open house

CUMBERLAND — On a springlike November day, thousands of area citizens toured the new Western Maryland Regional Medical Center Sunday afternoon, coming away by most accounts with a sense of awe at what has sprung forth in the way of modern medical technology and care on Willowbrook Road.

“We have 2,000 parking slots and I hope we fill them all,” said a security employee helping to direct the significant amount of traffic flowing into the center at 2 p.m.

As residents approached the main entrance, they were treated to music by the Mountain Ridge Jazz Orchestra.

“It is long overdue,” said Nancy Norris of LaVale who, with her husband, Bill, had just completed the self-guided tour. “The whole layout makes it simple to find things. That wasn’t the case at Memorial Hospital where it was like a maze.”

At 6 a.m. on Nov. 21, a Saturday, the new hospital goes live, opening for business, including everything from a stitched elbow to the delivery of a new baby. “Everything is on schedule,” Kathy Rogers, medical center spokeswoman, said of the opening.

Anna James, a Paw Paw, W.Va., photographer whose work hangs on hallway walls at the new center, called the facility breathtaking. “The vistas out of every room amaze me,” James said, adding that such panoramas will assist patients with wellness and healing.

State Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Wendell Beitzel were no less complimentary than the general public.

“It’s beautiful,” Edwards said. “I know that sounds simple, but it is true.”

Beitzel called it amazing and rewarding that such a $270 million modern medical center had been completed in far Western Maryland.

Dr. James Raver had similar sentiments. “It is a remarkable building,” Raver said. “Not only will it provide the quality health care, but it will begin to draw physicians and advanced practitioners because of what it offers. We have already seen it begin to bring the staffs (of Memorial and Braddock) together in a way we had only hoped for.”

Matt Satterfield of Piedmont, W.Va., had just toured the labor and delivery rooms and came away impressed. Good thing, because his wife will be having a baby in the near future, he said. Satterfield called the emergency room “very nice” and said the cafeteria offered more than he had anticipated.

Paul Miller Sr. and his wife, Carol, of Bowman’s Addition, said it might take time to get used to the larger hospital and learn the layout. “I hope I don’t have to come here (as a patient), but it is nice and spacious.”

Kay Bennett, who worked in laundry services at Memorial and Sacred Heart said she is glad she won’t be working at the new facility. “The walking would wear me out,” said the LaVale resident. “But it is just wonderful.”

Information about the medical center’s grand opening can be accessed via Facebook and Twitter.

The Western Maryland Health System will post updates leading up to the grand opening and throughout the transfer of patients from the existing hospitals.

Facebook and Twitter icons exist on the health system’s Web page (www.WMHS.com) and will link directly to those to communication sites.

The use of Facebook and Twitter will also provide users with updated hospital and health-related information on a regular basis, according to Barry Ronan, president and CEO of the health system.

The new center has seven floors and 585,000 square feet. It took three years to build and was completed on time and under budget, hospital officials said.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.