In the corridors and rooms where doctors and nurses once pored over charts and discussed patients, a new collection of experts is gathering.

Rather than evaluating some medical test or specimen, these experts are examining the hospital itself, looking for how best to bring an old facility back to life,. OLBH hopes to instill a new sense of medical purpose in a building that has sat empty, waiting for a new chance to be part of the community again.

Three months after Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Russell, Ky., purchased the old hospital, consultants are inspecting the facility, collectively determining the best use for its space.

"They're identifying resources there," Michael Stautberg, OLBH Vice President for External Affairs said. "They're looking at what would make the most sense. Ultimately, they (the consultants) will develop an architectural design. We've looked at using the old emergency room as the urgent care, but we may move it to a different part of the hospital. They're also looking at where the imaging center should go."

Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital officials also are working at getting the appropriate paperwork filed with the State of Ohio.

Stautberg said once a design plan is in place, work can begin to renovate the structure. Some new imaging equipment has already been purchased for the new facility.

Approximately one-quarter of the first floor of the old hospital will initially be used for the urgent care and imaging center.

Initially, the urgent care will probably operate 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Stautberg said operating hours are not concrete, but will provide medical care at times when it is needed most.

"When the E.R. is most used is between 12 p.m. and 2 a.m.," Stautberg said. "Most physicians' offices are closed in the evenings, and that is when emergency rooms are busiest. The community has asked repeatedly for urgent care service, and we are certainly listening to what people have to say."

While perhaps the most tangible benefit to opening the facility may be speedier medical care, the opening of the urgent care and diagnostic center will also have a positive impact on the Ironton area economy: it will initially employ 20-25 people. Some of the Lawrence Countians who were hired by OLBH when River Valley closed may opt to return to their old workplace. But Stautberg stressed that when the facility opens its doors again, 20-25 new jobs will be in downtown Ironton that didn't exist a few months before.

While the new facility will be a visible extension of OLBH's presence in Lawrence County, Stautberg stressed that the Russell neighbor has always been a part of the community. He and other OLBH officials have served on various committees and

participated in various clubs and projects. The hospital has also been a source of employment for Southern Ohioans.

"A fair amount of our employees, maybe as many as 400, are from Ohio," Stautberg said. "We've been a major employer within the Ironton area for some time. It's just that we're now expanding our services, and we will have more permanence in the Ironton community.

"I think if the community works with us, we will continue to listen. And as

(OLBH) continues to grow, there may be opportunities to expand on both sides of the river."