The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Money

February 20, 2010

Summersville hospital undergoes a name change

By Bev Davis

It’s official. Summersville Community Hospital has been renamed Summersville Regional Medical Center to reflect its growing presence in surrounding areas, CEO Debbie Hill said.

“The idea for a name change began when we started doing some fundraising,” Hill said. “Prominent businessmen were approaching coal companies and businesses in surrounding counties, and some of those people were saying, ‘That is a city-owned hospital. Why should we be supporting them?’ We began looking at the statistics and found that only 33 percent of our volume comes from Summersville.”

That statistic includes other small communities that no longer have post offices and fall under the same ZIP code as Summersville, Hill said.

“When 67 percent of your volume is coming from outside the area from places such as Webster and Clay counties, that’s regional,” she said.

The fundraising committee proposed the name change to the hospital’s board of directors who approved it, then submitted the proposal to Summersville City Council, which also approved it.

“With the closing of the hospital in Richwood and with the clinics we operate in Ansted and Richwood, we are definitely regional in our approach to health care,” Hill said.

Signage is being changed throughout the hospital campus.

— E-mail: bdavis@register-herald.com

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