Marshall Health expands Teays Valley campus, offers new services

Beth “Buffy� Hammers, chief engagement officer for Marshall Health Network, said the pavilion represents much more than a building.

“It’s a symbol of our growth, our commitment and our dedication to expand Marshall Health Network in Putnam County,� Hammers said. “Most importantly, it is a promise to patients, families and businesses who rely on us every day to bring access to exceptional care.�

The Teays Pavilion is the result of many people coming together with the shared goal of broadening health care access in the region, including Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., who secured federal funds to help the project come to fruition, said Scott Raynes, CEO of Marshall Health Network.

“We intend to bring the full gamut of services to this community in an ambulatory way, with our high-quality physicians and our clinicians that are part of our team,� Raynes said. “This is just one of many that we’ve done or will be doing in the near future.�

The Teays Pavilion is approximately 14,700 square feet, and together with the flagship facility, Marshall Health Network has 75 providers and more than 135 nurses and team members who provide for about 4,300 patients each month.

“The physicians and their teams provide expert outpatient care with seamless access to our hospitals whenever a higher level of care is needed,� Raynes said.

The expanded occupational medicine and toxicology service benefits the local workforce, Raynes said. The occupational medicine team diagnoses and treats work-related illness and injuries, provides pre-employment physicals and works with more than 70 businesses in the region to provide onsite and mobile medical services.

“It allows us to better meet the needs of employers who have workforce needs throughout the community,� Raynes said. “While this pavilion serves as a central hub of our occupational medicine providers, they’re also on the ground with more than 70 businesses across the region, meeting employers and employees where they are and delivering care wherever and in whatever way is needed.�

Teays Pavilion also a Marshall Health academic facility

Marshall Health Network is accepting new patients throughout its entire footprint, and Raynes said more providers will be brought into the area as needed.

The Teays Pavilion is also an academic facility, and David Gozal, dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, said the goal is to use the location to become a dynamic learning environment.

“We believe that our students and our trainees have endless opportunities by taking advantage and leveraging such an extraordinary facility,� Gozal said.

The School of Medicine is creating an academic division of medical toxicology, with the hopes of a residency program, which is needed not only in West Virginia, where there are none, but throughout the U.S., Gozal said.

“There are only 34 medical toxicology programs in North America,� Gozal said. “Half of them include the concentration of occupational medicine, and as such, by virtue of our existing occupational medicine program and the incorporation of medical toxicology, we could become a major force coming out of West Virginia.�

With Nucor and other industry growth in the region, there is a need for toxicology and occupational medicine, services that go hand in hand, said Adam Franks, chair of the department of family and community health.

“The benefit of occupational medicine is that it allows for employers to keep their workforce healthy, people well, to try to stop problems before they happen in the workforce and then keep a safe workforce,� Franks said. “If some problems do occur, then it allows a return to work, along with maintaining national standards of compliance that every provider needs.�

The occupational health and toxicology laboratory at Teays Pavilion offers drug testing for pre-employment screens, controlled substance monitoring and environment exposure, according to Kristen Bailey, managing toxicologist for Marshall Health Network. It will act as a clinical site for medical students and resident physicians.

“I think a lot of laboratories focus on just one certain aspect of drug testing or just do it for one population, where I think our goal here is to be able to provide our services to lots of different individuals,� Bailey said.

Bailey said the lab at Teays Pavilion is complete with two new LC-MS machines, used to separate and identify the amount of different components during drug testing.

“It’s the gold standard, really, for toxicological analysis,� she said. “This is incredibly powerful, very sensitive instrumentation, and it’s cutting edge."