EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – East Liverpool City Hospital, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Health, opened a permanent health clinic in East Palestine in April 2023.
The clinic, at 139 N. Walnut St., opened after the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in the village. It provides comprehensive primary care with health care staff members who can evaluate and treat acute illnesses, focus on health maintenance and preventive care, write prescriptions, provide lab testing and schedule consultations with specialists.
“We saw an immense need, and we filled a need. As a community-based hospital system, it is important that we are willing and able to support the needs of our neighbors,” says Krista McFadden, CEO of East Liverpool City Hospital. “We wanted to make health care convenient for the residents of East Palestine and, therefore, brought medical care to them.”
The hospital, a member of Prime Healthcare Foundation, employs more than 500, and its affiliates serve a population of more than 115,000 throughout its service area.
In August 2023, East Liverpool City Hospital was named a five-star hospital by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It was the only hospital to receive the designation in the Ohio Valley, according to McFadden. That area consists of Columbiana, Jefferson, Harrison and Belmont counties in Ohio and Marshall, Brooke, Hancock and Ohio counties in West Virginia.
Approximately 16% of hospitals across the country receive five stars on the one- to five-star rating system, McFadden says.
The rating is based on how well a hospital performs across five areas of quality measures: readmissions, mortality, safety of care, patient experience and timely and effective care.
The hospital also was recognized as one of Fortune’s 100 Top Hospitals and received a Leapfrog safety grade of “A” for the sixth consecutive year, from 2018 to 2023.