CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that Fairmont Regional Medical Center will continue operating under the umbrella of WVU Hospitals and that a new, state-of-the-art, full-service 100-bed facility will be constructed during the next 18-24 months preserving hundreds of jobs in the region.

“I just couldn’t accept that West Virginia’s seventh-largest city by population wasn’t going to have a hospital in their community,” Gov. Justice said. “I have been working non-stop on this and I want to thank everyone involved – our lawmakers, community leaders, and our superstars at WVU Hospitals for stepping up and making this happen because Fairmont and Marion County deserve a fully operational hospital. This is a fabulous day.”

Gov. Justice said WVU Hospitals will immediately begin to ramp up plans to keep healthcare services available at FRMC. With the exception of a brief period (30-45 days) of getting new Certificates Of Need and converting over to WVU medical records systems, the hospital will continue to be open.

Within 30 days the current FRMC will be operational full-time while work toward the new facility gets underway.

“Maybe now more than ever healthcare service in our communities is incredibly important,” Gov. Justice added. “And we are going to continue to do whatever we can to see to it that that happens.”

Albert Wright, President and CEO of WVU Hospitals, thanked Gov. Justice for leading the effort.

“Governor Justice was very serious about solving this problem and his vision and insistence to get it done has led us to this day,” Wright said. “Governor Justice always thinks big and he pushed us to get to the point where we could make this a 100-bed full-service hospital.”

WVU President Gordon Gee said as the state’s public land grant institution it is the duty of the university to make sure the public is served.

“There are 1.8 million West Virginians and we have a responsibility for every one of those citizens,” Gee said. “For the people of Marion County we need to have great healthcare, that is immediate and world-class. Providing that security is what we need to have in our communities and that’s what’s going to happen here.”