WHITE HALL, W.Va. (WV News) — With the Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital in White Hall set to open in December, officials hosted an open house Monday, as well as a visit from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.

In addition to a 24/7 emergency room with eight beds, the new hospital will offer 10 inpatient beds for people who don’t require the acute care provided at a larger health care facility.

Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Dr. Christopher Edwards told WV News the facility is very close to opening its doors to the public, and he’s excited to get it up and running.

“Over the last month, the pace has picked up rapidly, and rightfully so,” Edwards said. “We’re coming down the home stretch — just a couple of weeks away — and I think, across the board, the whole team is feeling excitement about getting it open and putting rubber to the road to start providing the care we’ve been talking about.”

Capito visited the facility ahead of the open house to meet with Edwards, Mon Health CEO David Goldberg and other officials and get a tour of the building herself.

After the tour, she said that the hospital will make a great addition to the healthcare options available in Marion County.

“This is a beautiful facility, and I hope the community comes out to see it and uses it to get the great care that Mon Health delivers all across the state,” Capito said. “Accessibility is always an issue in a state like ours. We see some of our hospitals having to close because they can’t afford it or they have antiquated facilities or they’re offering too many services for too small of a population.

“This, I think, brings the expertise and the broad array of services of Mon Health into a neighborhood hospital. It’s called ‘small format’, and I like that idea for rural America, because we don’t want to give up our ability — just because we live in rural America — to access hospitals. … This is going to be a real addition to the community.”

She even said that she was so impressed by the facility that she plans to mention its format to her colleagues in Washington, D.C. when they next discuss the country’s healthcare issues.

“I think seeing this firsthand is really helpful to me because we’re always trying to figure out how to balance urban and rural healthcare deliveries,” Capito said. “There’s only so many dollars in the federal pot. There’s a lot of people on Medicare and a lot of people on Medicaid, and a lot of people have access issues. If something like this is deliverable in smaller areas, I think it’s something we ought to look to replicate.”

The Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital is the company’s newest addition in the county, but not the first this year. A new set of medical offices opened nearby earlier in 2021, as well.

Goldberg said that he’s glad to continue building upon the services provided to Marion County, and he believes the new hospital is opening just in time to serve the people who need it.

“We have decades of service here in Marion County,” Goldberg said. “The cherry on top is having Dr. Edwards and the team here able to lead inpatient hospital access to provide choice to the community and bring (care) closer to home. When we were here a year ago, who would have thought that the COVID-19 pandemic would be lingering? We also have flu season coming, so this is opening at the right time to provide broader access to those in need.”