WARREN, Ohio – The first patient in months has received care at Insight Hospital & Medical Center Trumbull.
Voices can be heard again in the hallways, and word is circulating in the community that the hospital’s emergency room has reopened after closing March 27.
Although ambulances are not yet bringing in patients as a priority, Dr. Jawad Shah, founder, president and CEO of Insight Health System, said part of the plan is to slowly increase the hospital’s capacity. It will start with patients near the hospital and those able to get to the emergency room themselves, although Shah said the staff is prepared and welcomes any emergencies.
Going into Tuesday, the status of the reopening was still uncertain. Shah said a possible reopening was quietly on Insight’s internal calendar three different times, and something prevented it twice. He said he was elated when he learned Tuesday morning that the hospital got the green light to reopen.
“It’s a big day,” Shah said. “I’m very happy, very surprised it went so well. And I’m elated that we can get started and do the work that I think we really want to do. … It’s exciting to be able to take care of people and wake up every day and feel that we’re increasing the health, taking care of sick people. I think it’s a privilege, really, to do that.”
Shah said many of the doctors, nurses and staff members remain passionate about caring for the people of Warren and Trumbull County. He credits the staff members who were on standby at the hospital Tuesday morning and opened the door to a patient within minutes of getting the news about the reopening.
“I don’t feel like this is a job for our people,” Shah said. “I could feel everyone, really, they’re just passionate about getting this hospital running. And that’s exciting.”
Shah said he also felt the passion of area residents and government officials in their efforts to save the hospital and get it reopened.
“I felt a sense that it was beyond just my duty … or we hope this works out,” Shah said of the concerted effort of government officials. “There was a real passion in all of them to ensure things worked, and I saw it in their eyes. I saw that in every nuance of their interactions with me. And then it made it, in an odd way, it made me believe in government.”
Among those involved, Shah credited U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, Mayor Doug Franklin and the Trumbull County commissioners for all working tirelessly to remove roadblocks at both the state and federal level.
“I’ve never seen something move so quickly,” Shah said. “I was not optimistic or pessimistic about what was going to happen today, but I was shocked to see how seamlessly that team worked to ensure that we got everything we needed and then proceed to be open.”
Moreno took to social media platform X to credit the reopening as a team effort.
“So happy to see this finally happen after seven months of anxiety,” Moreno’s post reads. “This was a total team effort and the Mayor, the Trumbull County Commissioners, the Ohio Department of Health and our great Director of CMS, @DrOZ, made it happen!”
Insight Health System acquired the Warren hospital as well as the former Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland through Steward Health Care System’s bankruptcy, creating a nonprofit instead of a for-profit entity. But due to a lack of control in billing and medical records as ownership transferred, Insight was forced to close both hospitals in late March.
Insight announced in September that the hospital would soon resume 24/7 emergency care with supporting services. Earlier this month, the Ohio Department of Health released a report from a Sept. 23 inspection that noted concerns and violations that would require correction before the hospital could reopen. Shah said Tuesday many of those items on the list required third-party verification to satisfy the ODH, which naturally wants to ensure the facility is safe for patients. The ODH is now “very happy with everything” and gave them the go-ahead, Shah said.
Deb Bindas, regional director of AFSCME Ohio Council 8, said Tuesday that 34 union members have returned to the hospital, including 14 registered nurses, which is enough to staff the emergency room 24/7. Members of the Service Employees International Union, which includes technicians, have also returned.
Shah said 15 doctors are on staff and more than 100 are on a list approved to practice at the hospital, if they choose to do so and if they are needed.
The chief pharmacist remained on staff throughout the closure, preserving what medicines could be kept and obtaining additional supplies as the hospital reopened. Shah also said about 98% of the equipment was maintained at the hospital during the closure, and other aging equipment was replaced. The hospital is able to accept Medicare and Medicaid, he said.
Shah said the nature of medical work and hospitals is making sure everything they do is done safely. Within a few weeks of reopening the emergency room, inpatient and outpatient care and laboratory, pharmacy and radiology services, the situation will be revisited and possibly more services will be added.
Shah said workflow will be evaluated and staff understanding of the new software will be evaluated. The next steps will include reopening the cardiology and operating rooms. Subspecialties will be added as the community’s needs and patient volumes dictate. For now, there is room at the hospital for patient rehabilitation, but Shah said as the hospital patient volumes increase, that may lead to the eventual reopening of Insight Rehabilitation Hospital Hillside.
Shah credited Mercy Health with taking excellent care of the needs of the local community while Insight’s Warren hospital was closed. Mercy Health – St. Joseph Warren Hospital is a 137-bed facility located 1.5 miles away. Shah said he does not see it as a competition to attract patients to return to Insight, but more as a way to take the pressure off other health care options.
“We believe the community needs this,” Shah said. “There are more issues related to health and medicine that can be handled by this current health infrastructure outside of this hospital. So we believe this hospital is a necessity. It’s not a luxury for the community.”
Shah said the hospital’s priorities as it reopens include first providing the best medical care, as well as satisfying the regulations of agencies like ODH and and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and finally making sure the hospital can overcome past financial problems.
“They say there’s no mission if there’s no margin, and we have to be very, very fiscally responsible as to how we improve and grow the hospital,” Shah said.
As it reopens, Shah said he hopes local residents and patients can understand, now as a nonprofit, how much Insight belongs to the community.
“We are simply the ones who have been blasted with tidal waves of problems, found a way to navigate out of it and now emerging on the other side, where we’re seeing the light of day and a better future now for the hospital,” he said.
Pictured at top: Dr. Jawad Shah, founder, president and CEO of Insight Health System.