WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital cancels Thursday appointments, but ER remains open

BUCKHANNON — WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital has canceled all clinic, outpatient and scheduled surgical appointments for Thursday, July 23, citing ongoing major connectivity issues from the flooding and the city’s continued shelter-in-place order. The hospital’s emergency department remains open 24 hours a day for emergency medical needs.

The hospital said its teams will work to contact patients to reschedule as quickly as possible and asked patients with questions to contact their provider’s office once phone and communication systems have been fully restored.

The closures followed a day in which floodwater made it hard for staff and patients to reach the hospital. Matthew Scott, director of marketing and communications at St. Joseph’s Hospital, said Wednesday the hospital had closed its clinics and outpatient appointments for the day because so many staff and patients could not get in, while the ER, OB and other services stayed open and accessible.

Scott said the ER had been busy but manageable, and that the hospital took in families who had nowhere else to go.

“It’s all been cases we’ve been able to handle,” Scott said. “We’re just doing everything we can. We’ve had some people come in who were looking for a place to be because they’ve lost their home or couldn’t reach their home. We housed some families here at the hospital last night that just didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Scott said it was tricky getting to the hospital Wednesday morning, but the water receded later in the day.

“We have the back emergency entrance opened up, and we had some ambulances that were able to come in that way, or even the public, if they couldn’t make it up the hill, so we had that alternate emergency route available,” Scott said. “We’re just trying to keep in close contact with our community leaders and the community itself and trying to address each need and issue as it comes up.”