Photo Provided EAST OHIO Regional Hospital’s doctors pose for a photo during the facility’s reopening Thursday. From left are Drs. Jeremy Edgmon, Michael Tatro, Tim Genetta and David Shaffer. The hospital had been closed since September 2019.

MARTINS FERRY — Within four hours after East Ohio Regional Hospital reopened Thursday, the facility already had received three to four ambulances and had admitted three patients, according to Bernie Albertini, chief operating officer.

And the hospital and its 400 employees are ready for more.

“I’ve been telling people there are no detours on Ohio 7,” Albertini said, referring to the construction-related Interstate 70 detours in Wheeling, home to Wheeling Hospital. “Come see us.”

Since last May when it was announced that Dayton, Ohio-based psychiatrist Dr. John Johnson had purchased EORH, local residents have been eagerly awaiting the day it would open again.

“We made it,” Albertini said with a smile.

EORH and its former sister facility, Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, both were shuttered in fall 2019 by former owner Alecto Healthcare Services of California. It was devastating news for the Ohio Valley not only because of the job losses, but because two major hospitals were now gone.

On top of that a global pandemic began in early 2020, leaving the community and city leaders even more anxious about where people would get their care if they became stricken with the COVID-19 virus.

Albertini said EORH had not yet received any COVID patients Thursday, but he believes it is just a matter of time until it does. A portion of the facility’s intensive care unit is ready for such patients, and there are also rooms designated on the facility’s third floor and 2 North section for those with the infection, he said.

He said when the coronavirus does arrive, the hospital staff will be ready. They have been running practice drills and know what to do. Visitors to the main lobby were checked in and their temperatures taken on Thursday afternoon to screen for possible COVID sickness.

Now that all the work to get ready and open is done, he said the hospital and its staff can do what they do best — take care of people.

Albertini estimated the hospital’s future psychiatric wing will open in about six to eight months. Renovations to that space, which will include 46 beds, need to be done before patients can be admitted there.

Work already is underway on an inpatient pharmacy at the main entrance of the hospital. It will be open to the public to use to get their prescriptions filled.

Albertini noted Johnson did visit the hospital Thursday morning to check on things.

“He was very happy. He’s very pleased with everything,” Albertini said.

To commemorate its first day back in business, the hospital signed in with the Belmont County 911 Center, letting dispatchers there know it was ready to receive patients. This honor was given to Lindsey Kulpa, ER/ICU manager. Several members of the Martins Ferry Volunteer Fire Department, Martins Ferry EMS and Martins Ferry Police Department also were outside to mark the occasion.

A community celebration of the hospital’s reopening is expected to be held at a later date as COVID regulations allow.