Summersville Regional Medical Center

is new name of hospital

A new year and a new decade brought with it a new name to the hospital in Summersville.

The sign at U.S. Route 19 and Fairview Heights Road shows the new name of the hospital.

Effective Jan. 1, 2010, Summersville Regional Medical Center (SRMC) officially became the new name of the facility formerly known for many years as Summersville Memorial Hospital.

SRMC Chief Executive Officer Debbie Hill explained that the hospital Board of Directors officially approved the name change during 2009, and then the Summersville City Council okayed the name change later in the year for the city-owned hospital.

Hill said the official name change coincided with government agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid, also recognizing the the name change.

“We also wanted to wait until most of our building expansion projects had been completed,” said Hill.

Hill further explained the primary reason for the name change is that the hospital serves a much wider area than just within Summersville.

“In looking at our patient admissions, we found that only 33 percent of the patients were from the 26651 zip code area,” said Hill.

“This means that 67 percent of our patients are from other areas of Nicholas County, along with Webster County and some from Braxton, Clay and Fayette counties,” she said.

Hill added that for outpatient services offered such as physical therapy and the Sleep Diagnostic Center, the hospital serves patients on a more regional basis.

SRMC also has satellite medical clinics in Richwood and Ansted. “The name change will also make them feel like part of the family,” Hill added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter a busy time at Summersville Lake

C.J. Hamilton
Resource Manager
Summersville Lake

People often ask me, “So what do you do in the wintertime?” Well, this year it has most certainly been dealing with snow. Back in December, it was the 28-inch

Lake debris collected by the U.S. Army Corps and cordoned off will be floated to Battle Run and burned.

snowstorm followed by a couple of 1-foot storms. We had damage to our outflow gauge, one of our storage buildings and lots of trees down in recreation areas. Then, we get to deal with the snow on a whole other dimension — runoff. On the weekend of January 23 and 24, we received just over an inch of rainfall at the dam but over 3 inches fell in some of the headwaters, much of which still had a fairly deep snowpack.

The result was rapidly rising waters on all four of the rivers in Summersville Dam’s 803 square mile drainage basin; the Gauley, Williams, Cranberry and Cherry rivers. In fact, the river gauge at Craigsville climbed to over 21.5 feet on Jan. 25, producing a flow of 35,700 cubic feet per second, or cfs. (a cubic foot is about 7.5 gallons of water). As a reference, normal flows at the gauge for this date are around a 1,000 cfs. The estimated inflow into the reservoir, after all of the streams below the gauge dumped in, was over 46, 000 cfs.

Since the lake can only discharge around 10,000 cfs in the winter months, the lake level rose rapidly, peaking at 34 feet above the normal winter level on Jan. 26. And with this surge in lake level came a large volume of driftwood, amassing almost 10 acres. The driftwood moved down the lake in a steady stream for two days and then congregated where the current weakened, which was downstream of the Salmon Run boat ramp. When this happens, there are two choices — leave it alone and let it blow around the lake or head out into the January weather and try to contain it. Heading out early means you can spend a few thousand dollars addressing the immediate problem verses waiting until the summer and spending 10 times that amount.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several races take shape in Primary Election

There will be some competitive races in the May 11 Primary Election.

The election filing period ended on Saturday, Jan. 30, in the Nicholas County Clerk’s office.

Three candidates will be vying for the Democratic nomination for a six-year term for the Nicholas County Commission representing Cherry District.

Incumbent Commissioner Spurgeon “Jinks” Hinkle will be challenged by retired educator and auctioneer John Miller of Calvin and Bruce Allen Donaldson, a Richwood businessman.

Four candidates will be vying for three non-partisan seats on the Nicholas County Board of Education with all three seats being for full four-year terms.

Current Board members Barbara Taylor of Fenwick, Cherry District; and Phil Berry of Summersville, Birch District, are both seeking re-election to four-year terms.

The two challengers are Jason Swager of Mount Lookout, Gauley District, and Destal Hanna Jr., of Cottle, Cherry District.

The third Board member whose term expires is Jim Fitzwater of Summersville, Birch District, who chose not to seek re-election.

 

 

 

 

 

Economic Roundtable addressed

by Massey Coal official

A top official for Massey Coal Services addressed the Nicholas County Commission’s Economic Roundtable on Friday morning, Jan. 29, at the Nicholas County Senior Center in Summersville.

Summersville native Thomas Cook, Environmental Services Director for Massey Coal Services in West Virginia and several surrounding states, spoke to the Roundtable about the ongoing struggle the company is having in getting permits from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Cook said Nicholas Energy in the Drennen area, a surface mine, and Green Valley Coal Co. in Leivasy, a deep mine, have been unable to receive permits from the EPA to expand their operations. Nicholas Energy is seeking a valley fill permit and Green Valley Coal Co. is applying for a refuse pond permit.

Cook said if the permits are not granted by the EPA, it would mean the company will have to close down its local operations causing the loss of 320 mining jobs in the county.

He said each mining job produces eight spinoff jobs such as truck drivers and lubricant distributors.

Nicholas County Commission President Spurgeon “Jinks” expressed concern that if the Massey mines would close, it would result in the loss of much coal severance tax revenue and property tax revenue.

He added that Fola Coal Co. at the Nicholas and Clay County line has also had difficulty getting permits from EPA to expand.

“If Massey and Fola both close, we won’t be able to fund deputy sheriffs like we do now,” said Hinkle.

He added that Massey Coal has done many good things in the county such as repairing the lake at Indian Rocks Estates near Craigsville and dredging portions of the Cherry River in Richwood.

Cook urged those in attendance to contact their elected officials and tell them the impotance of coal to the state of West Virginia.

 

 

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