Hospitals Triumph in Turbulent Times
By SHELLEY HANSON Staff WriterArticle Photos
WHEELING - Patients too sick to walk were carried between floors at the old Ohio Valley Medical Center because there were no elevators.
During the Civil War, wounded Union and Confederate soldiers lay side by side at Wheeling Hospital's former North Wheeling facility.
The city's two hospitals have long and varied histories, but according to employee accounts, the facilities have at least one thing in common - family-oriented atmospheres, shaped by the people who work there and by the surrounding community.
Owned by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, Wheeling Hospital was founded in 1850 by Bishop Richard V. Whelan and Dr. Simon Hullihen. The original hospital was located in a house at 110 15th St. in East Wheeling and still stands today. It was staffed by four nuns of the Sisters of St. Joseph order. And four sisters live there today. Among them is Sister Christine Riley, who served as nursing administrator for Wheeling Hospital from 1968-80.
The 15th Street house served as the hospital from 1853-56. When the space became too small, the sister nurses and doctors moved to the Sweeney mansion in North Wheeling. The mansion and its additions have since been demolished. It was located near the former Sacred Heart Church, where the current Hope 6 housing development is situated.
During the Civil War, 1861-65, the hospital cared for both Union and Confederate soldiers as patients at the North Wheeling location. This fact, Riley believes, sums up what Wheeling Hospital is all about - helping people, all people.
As nursing administrator, Riley made the transition from the North Wheeling site in 1975 to the current building just off Interstate 70 at 1 Medical Park in Clator. She has fond memories of working there. And though technology, she noted, continues to play a significant role in medicine today, the main duty of a nurse remains the same - to be a compassionate caregiver.
''The Sisters of St. Joseph at Wheeling Hospital have served as administrators, nurses and in pastoral care from 1853 to present,'' Riley said.
Much like the four sisters who staffed the very first hospital, there currently are four sisters working in pastoral care today at the facility. Riley works as a massage therapist at Howard Long Wellness Center, which is owned by Wheeling Hospital.
When the hospital made its big move from North Wheeling to the Clator area on June 21, 1975, it was a major undertaking that involved much planning to transport 165 patients. Riley said it went off without a hitch. However, three months after the patients were moved in, they were moved out in a scramble due to a flash flood. On Labor Day, torrential rain flooded a basin on a nearby hilltop, resulting in water and mud crashing into the hospital.
''I'll never forget it - there was no electricity in the hospital at all,'' Riley said. ''We had to use flashlights to get down stairs. When people heard about it, they left wherever they were and came to help. ... There was a wonderful family spirit. People worked together and gave their all for the patients.''
Patients were transported to OVMC, East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Belmont Community Hospital, the old North Wheeling facility and some were able to go home, she added.
''The hillside let loose and water came charging down and burst into the main floor. It filled up the basement in 15 minutes,'' Riley said.
The new hospital reopened three months after the flood.
Located at 2000 Eoff St. in Center Wheeling, OVMC was founded in 1890 as City Hospital. It opened its doors to patients in 1892 in the former Wheeling Female Seminary at Eoff and 20th streets, according to the May 20, 1990, proclamation by then Gov. Gaston Caperton, who named that day ''Ohio Valley Medical Center Day.''
The proclamation, in addition to many other artifacts, are located in display cases at the facility. The proclamation notes the original building had a 60-bed capacity.
''And patients who were non-ambulatory were carried from floor to floor because the building had no elevator,'' Caperton's proclamation noted. ''From its humble beginning, meeting the needs of the community has been an essential part of the heritage of Ohio Valley. As the need for increased services has arisen, Ohio Valley has been there to improve the health of the community it serves.''
The original hospital was demolished and replaced in 1914. The new building had a 154-patient capacity and became known as Ohio Valley General Hospital. The proclamation also notes that in the hospital's 100-year history, it housed the first training school for nurses in the state. It operated from 1892 to 1988.
Paula Earliwine, a nurse at OVMC, attended the hospital's school of nursing and graduated from West Virginia Northern Community College. She began working at OVMC in 1975 and has been there since.
''It doesn't seem like it's been 33 years, but I haven't thought of working anywhere else. I'm a Wheeling native and I plan to stay here,'' Earliwine said. ''Technology has changed immensely, it's more patient oriented. Patients are our primary concern - their care and safety.''
For the past 13 years, she has worked in the hospital's Post Anesthesia Care Unit. In the unit's holding room, she prepares patients for surgery.
Another significant piece of history made at OVMC was when a surgical team reattached a man's arm in 1979 - the second successful microvascular surgery in the nation, and probably the world, said Dr. David Kappel. Kappel said his surgical team included Dr. E. Phillips Polack and Dr. Richard Glass. Kappel noted the first successful microvascular surgery was conducted in Boston.
"As you can imagine, it was a big deal at the time," said Kappel, who was then 34 years old.
The patient, a Pennsylvania man, was working as a foreman at a construction site somewhere in the region when the accident occurred. A steel I beam fell and severed the man's arm. Integral to the surgery was Polack, who had received additional training in microvascular surgery prior to joining the private practice four months earlier, Kappel said. As the surgery was conducted, Kappel said he "didn't think about it being a historically important event." He simply went to work.
Twenty nine years later, surgeons have learned that the best replantation outcomes occur in children, not adults, Kappel noted. His 1979 patient, he said, recovered some sensation in his arm.
"I still see him from time to time. ... He never regretted having it replanted," Kappel said.
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