River Valley Health System will affiliate its obstetrics department with Marshall University’s School of Medicine to provide delivery services.

Thursday, August 24, 2000

River Valley Health System will affiliate its obstetrics department with Marshall University’s School of Medicine to provide delivery services.

Before- and after-delivery care will remain on RVHS’s maternity floor but the affiliation means some staff shifting and possible staff reductions, officials said.

The area’s recent loss of two obstetricians challenged the hospital with providing care in its maternity unit, so RVHS is now partnering with two members of the Marshall OB/GYN faculty in Huntington, W.Va., RVHS chief executive officer Terry Vanderhoof said in a press release today.

Dr. Brent Oliver moved to Nevada and Dr. David Pack decided to deliver at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, said Sue Massie, director of marketing.

To cover that loss, the hospital has been paying a company since December to provide OB/GYN staff to the hospital’s maternity ward, at a costly daily rate, Mrs. Massie said.

Such staff is board certified but different physicians came to the hospital for different periods of time, she said.

Many patients wanted to see the same physicians in the ward and the hospital wanted to provide such an obstetrics staff, Mrs. Massie said.

Providing a stable physician team in the OB department ensures that both mother and baby receive the finest possible care, and that comes from the affiliation, Vanderhoof said in the press release.

In the wake of the affiliation, though, three maternity ward staff members will retire and others are being transferred within the hospital, Mrs. Massie said.

"I’m sure there will be some who won’t, but we’re trying to keep that as minimal as possible," she said.

A specific number of staff reductions was not available this morning, she said.

"Our concern is patients want to see the same doctor and we want to address the issue of providing stable quality care for our OB patients," Mrs. Massie said.

Marshall faculty Drs. Brenda Dawley and Benjamin Edwards will see RVHS patients in Ironton, performing women’s health care, physicals, prenatal, postpartum and all other care – except deliveries – locally, she said.

Deliveries will be done at Cabell Huntington Hospital, which is equipped with the finest neonatal unit in the region, Vanderhoof said.

Dr. Robert Nerhood, chairman of the Marshall Department of OB/GYN, will oversee the program, he said.

River Valley’s OB patients will have the benefit of quality care while enjoying the convenience of receiving prenatal care close to home, Vanderhoof added.

Dr. Dawley graduated from The Ohio State University and the University of Miami School of Medicine. She is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Dr. Edwards graduated from the University of Kentucky and the West Virginia University School of Medicine. He holds board eligibility status with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.