Photo by Niamh Coomey A sign at the now-closed East Ohio Regional Hospital directs patients to various departments. Some providers there are still caring for their patients while seeking new quarters.

MARTINS FERRY — Providers at East Ohio Regional Hospital are working to care for patients and determine next steps despite a lack of support from administration.

Many practitioners have outlined a period in which they will be refilling prescriptions, answering questions and treating patients to the best of their ability while many work to transition to another practice. It typically takes providers around 90 days to get credentialed with a new healthcare facility, a period when some patients may go without regular care.

Family nurse practitioner Shawn Core has worked at EORH for three and a half years, doing primary care for two of those years. She has a patient load of around 1,000 people. Core has given her patients notice that she will be able to continue filling prescriptions and providing care, largely remotely, for 90 days.

Core said she can no longer take on new patients or conduct annual physical examinations. However she is setting many patients up with enough supply of their medications for the next six months so they can go without having to find a new primary care doctor — a challenging task in a physician-dry area.

“The impact on (patients) is having to find a new primary care in an overwhelmed system here in the Ohio Valley already,” she said.

Some patients have said they would follow Shore to her next practice with WVU Medicine, where she will start, likely in June, once she is credentialed there. Other patients have said they will need to seek out a new provider sooner.

“A lot of my conversations with my patients are, ‘I’ll follow you. Wherever you go, you give me enough meds, I’ll be back to see you in June when you start back up,'” she said. “And then there are other patients that say, ‘I really like seeing you, but I can’t go without a doctor that long,’ and I get it.”

Nurse practitioner Alfred Dunn said amid the ongoing lack of communication from the hospital, he is trying to get as much information out to patients as possible. According to Dunn, the hospital has said it has been sending patients written 30-day notices to inform them that care through EORH will be ceasing at that time, but there have been mixed messages among providers about when this period starts and ends, and whether all patients have been notified.

“We seek direction frequently and, unfortunately, we don’t receive any,” Dunn said. “We’re kind of feeling like we’re hanging out there to figure it out for ourselves.”

Dunn encourages patients who have not received information from their provider or the hospital to continue calling their providers and leaving voicemails, understanding that the number of staff available to answer phones is limited.

Patients should also communicate their needs with their pharmacy, he said. He and other staff are continuing to monitor those requests and fill them as they receive them.

Without support from lab technicians, specialists and referral staff, it is difficult to provide the care patients deserve, Dunn said. He emphasized that his focus as a healthcare provider remains on the patients’ needs, above all.

Dunn said after the 30-day period ends, he plans to continue practicing somewhere locally with WVU, hopefully in May.

“Until that time we’ll do all we can for our patients,” he said.

Physician assistant Heather Shields has a family medicine practice in the medical office building adjacent to EORH’s parking garage and emergency department. Shields said she is working hard to help her patients adjust to the sudden change.

For 30 days, Shields will help transfer prescriptions, review test results that come in, make referrals and answer questions despite the lack of guidance from administration.

Like Core and Dunn, Shields is ensuring that patients are set up with the medications they need for the next several months.

“I’m not seeing (patients), but I still am handling all of their prescriptions in the meantime so they’re not left high and dry,” Shields said. “There’s not really a format for us to follow. We’re just trying to do what’s best for our patients with respect to our license. At least that’s my goal for the next 30 days.”

Shields said she is busier than ever managing patient calls and cleaning out her office. Her medical assistant has also been showing up every day to help with the high volume of patient calls despite neither of them knowing whether they will be paid for their time.

Thankfully, Shields said, her patients have been incredibly understanding of the situation and many want to follow Shields to her next location. She said it is important to her to remain local and in family medicine.

“I think what’s really unique is that every patient that has called here has been very supportive of me, the hospital, my staff and understanding that this was not something that we wanted nor planned for ourselves,” Shields said.

Other doctors independent of EORH who rent out their space in the building are still seeing patients as normal, Shields said.

Some EORH providers, such as gastroenterologist Dr. Daniel Shats, parted ways with the troubled hospital before the official closure and are now trying to retain their patient load.

Shats is encouraging former patients to schedule with him at his new, independent practice in St. Clairsville once it opens on April 1.

“I’m hopeful that since we’re in the same area just down the street that the patients from the former practice will follow over,” Shats said.

Shats said that many patients have been largely left in the dark. Some did not find out that EORH closed until they showed up for a scheduled procedure and found the doors locked.

“This is why I’m trying to make it known that I am available and I can resume patient care, and we will do our best to pick up where the other practice left off,” Shats said.

Multiple providers echoed the sentiment that they are doing the best they can for their patients during a high-stress time with little to no support from hospital administration.

“I just want people to know we are still answering emails and getting messages, and we’re trying to provide as much care as we can while this continues so that our patients don’t go without,” Shore said.