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Something that never happens in America anymore is saving two Ohio counties in free fall

2 Ohio counties combat population losses

By Salena Zito
Nov 28, 2021 12:45 AM

MARTINS FERRY, Ohio — What happened in this Belmont County city never happens anymore in Appalachia. In fact, it rarely happens anywhere in America.

Two years after the East Ohio Regional Hospital shut its doors after 114 years of serving the people of this region, the doors opened again this spring.

“Nobody opens hospitals anymore,” said Bernie Albertini, the administrator and chief operating officer at East Ohio. The Wheeling native, who has been running hospitals most of his professional career, came out of early retirement when Dayton native Dr. John Johnson decided to invest in the community and reopen the facility this spring.

The astonishing development brought more than 500 jobs — 100 more than had worked in the hospital previously — as well as hope and life to a community that had feared the closing might be the final straw that could break the proverbial camel’s back.

Mr. Albertini, a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives, said he called the organization looking for anyone who had opened a hospital recently; they essentially said, “Good luck.”

When East Ohio closed, Mr. Albertini said the news and impact were devastating in a region that has become all too used to loss. Belmont County and neighboring Jefferson County are among several in the Ohio Valley that have suffered significant population losses since the slow death of American manufacturing began in the 1970s. Population numbers plunged again in the latest census, with Belmont losing an additional 5.5 percent of its people and Jefferson 6.4 percent. That population loss will bring more loss — specifically in political clout in Washington because the state will lose another congressional seat.

The closing of East Ohio Hospital left locals without easy access to an emergency room, doctors’ offices and surgical procedures, a lack of access Mr. Albertini says is an epidemic in rural America.

He admits he had to be nudged a bit to take the daunting job of reviving the defunct regional hospital.

“When I walked into the hospital with a security guard and a flashlight after it had been closed for two years, it was like walking into a post-apocalyptic horror movie, complete with light fixtures hanging from the ceiling and walls peeling away,” he said of the tour he took before he took the job.

Last week, there were nursing students from Jefferson County’s Eastern Gateway Community College doing rounds amid the bustle in the brightly-lit hallways, as well as some fanfare over a Starbucks coffee shop in the lobby about to open.

Mr. Albertini calls the hospital’s reopening a game changer.

Hospitals are economic drivers, he said: “It is not just the people who work here, it is all of the local businesses we do business with; we are a true job creator. We use United Dairy, which is across the street from the hospital, where we get all of our dairy products. We use Martins Ferry Hardware. We buy our office supplies from Borden Office Supply up in East Liverpool,” he said, reeling off a long list of local small businesses the hospital chooses to support over large, out-of-state suppliers.

Whether you walk along the main street of Martins Ferry, or Mingo Junction, or Steubenville, a fascinating mix of deep roots, connection, pride and sense of community competes with the reality of shuttered storefronts and an exodus of young people.

The steel mills that lined the Ohio River here literally rebuilt the country at the dawn of the 20th Century. That industrial vitality is largely gone, and figuring out how to stem the losses has eluded civic leaders for generations.

Both Mr. Albertini here in Belmont and Robert Naylor, the executive director of the Jefferson County Port Authority, are looking at the problems with fresh eyes and an understanding that it takes their communities’ civic leaders and stakeholders working in unison to make change.

Mr. Albertini says the path forward should be recognizing the importance of small steps rather than pining for one big thing to swoop in and save everything.

Mr. Naylor points to two very different yet very important areas of opportunity for his county: higher education and manufacturing.

“JSW Steel in Mingo Junction is working on modernizing their facility; currently they employ over 300 people, and we are working with them on other projects so that they can continue to develop a parcel there and expand their production.” In the same way that Mr. Albertini views the hospital opening, Mr. Naylor also calls JSW’s commitment to expand a “game changer.”

On the benefits of higher education, Mr. Naylor says not only does Eastern Gateway Community College provide workforce development jobs like nursing and welding that keep young people close to their roots, Franciscan University in Steubenville retains some who never considered living here before.

Tommy Valentine, 27, is one of them. The Virginia native came to Steubenville to attend Franciscan; he got his degree in history and never left. “You know, I went to the university and never thought I’d live here. I thought I’d do my four years and then get out. As I got to know this town, felt the sense of community, I never wanted to leave.”

Mr. Valentine, who works for a Catholic political group, said the ability to find an affordable home was also appealing, “and a good quality of life; a lot has been done here in Steubenville to try to revitalize. You know, we’ll never be what it was, but to try to revitalize the town into something good — and be part of it — is what is so appealing.”

Mr. Albertini says correcting the shrinking populations in counties like Belmont and Jefferson is a lot like being in the health-care industry: “It’s a tough business to be in, the margins are low, the equipment to maintain it is expensive.” A lot like small cities in rural counties trying to keep their heads above water.

Mr. Albertini said when Dr. Johnson bought the hospital, he asked him, “Why of all the places in the world he picked this town and this hospital, when everyone else was betting against them?

“He said this was his experiment to prove that if you capitalize a small rural hospital and run it right, it can survive and thrive and actually stand up to — and compete with — the big hospitals of the world,” Mr. Albertini said.

It is an experiment that could possibly apply to the fortunes of small towns across America.

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/insight/2021/11/28/Salena-Zito-2-Ohio-counties-combat-population-losses/stories/202111280037