Morgantown’s two health care providers, Mon Health and WVU Medicine, are holding job fairs next week in Fairmont in an attempt to hire people who will lose their jobs when Fairmont Regional Medical Center closes in two months.
Both job fairs will be held at the Fairmont Knights of Columbus, 1529 Mary Lou Retton Drive. Mon Health will hold its event from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, while WVU Medicine has scheduled its job fair from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and will hold a second session from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Marion County Visitors Center, 1000 Cole St., Suite A, Pleasant Valley.
“As for staff and clinicians, as a strong believer in community hospitals, our goal is to help the citizens of Fairmont maintain services close to home,” Mon Health President and CEO David Goldberg said in a statement given to The Dominion Post. “A great example is our intention to employ (obstetrics and gynecology specialist) Dr. Pat Bonasso of Fairmont, if the state approves our application for a certificate of need.”
“The most important future for those who live in the Greater Fairmont region is to have real choice in where they get their health care. Mon Health plans to do all it can to make sure choice of care remains available.”
Sign-on bonuses of $10,000 will be offered for select nursing positions at Mon Health Medical Center and for select LPN positions at Heritage Point. There is also a $1,000 sign-on bonus for Heritage Point wait staff.
FRMC’s owner Alecto Healthcare Systems of Irvine, Calif., announced Tuesday it was closing the hospital in 60 days because of financial difficulties and its inability to find a buyer. The 207-bed medical center employs more than 600 physicians, nurses and staff.
“We want to provide support to the community and those whose jobs are being displaced by the closure of Fairmont Regional Medical Center,” Leeann Kaminsky, WVU Medicine chief human resources officer, said. “We have many job openings available and welcome Fairmont Regional Medical Center employees to apply for them and attend the open interviews we have scheduled.”
In announcing the closure, Alecto said it faced a number of challenges in Fairmont, including recruiting physicians and competition from larger health care systems and an aging facility. Alecto, which bought Fairmont Regional in June 2014 for $15.3 million, closed both Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Ohio, last year.
“If there is a positive and closure goes through, the silver lining is that other facilities will reach out,” said Joe Letnuanchyn, president and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association.
Gov. Jim Justice formed the Rural Medical Task Force in response to layoffs at Fairmont Regional and the announced closure.
“Fairmont Regional Medical Center is a vital lifeline to our people in the Fairmont community and those across Marion County,” Justice said earlier this week. “My administration has been studying various options over the past several months and meeting with delegates, senators and other community leaders to try to find a workable solution.”
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