CHAMPION TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Bon Secours Mercy Health continues to expand its footprint, breaking ground Tuesday on a new $50 million facility that will offer 24/7 emergency care, advanced imaging services and full laboratory services.
The Mercy Health – Champion Emergency Center has been in the planning stages since 2016, according to Dr. John Luellen, Mercy Health state president, Ohio. He said the new facility isn’t a direct result of the closure of Insight Health Systems’ hospitals in Warren and Howland.
“We’re very excited about this project,” said Charlotte Gardiner, president of Mercy Health – St. Joseph Warren Hospital, which she said is about 12 minutes from the new facility. “We’ve got a long-standing commitment to meeting the needs of the Mahoning Valley, and we’ve had a lot of opportunities to grow and meet these needs as they evolve. This freestanding emergency room and associated services is another example of, strategically, how we’re growing to meet the community’s needs.”
Luellen said strategic planning and conceptual designs began as early as 2016, and he was handed the project folder immediately when he started with Mercy Health in 2018.
“We make our decisions with a great deal of intentionality and discernment,” Luellen said, adding the team at Mercy Health has spent a lot of time finding just the right property and determining what services to offer.
Tucked on 63 acres on Education Drive between the Trumbull County Career & Technical Center, Kent State University at Trumbull campus and state Routes 5 and 45, the new 30,000-square-foot facility will have a 25-bed capacity. Many more patients will be treated through outpatient services.
“As the Trumbull County community began to grow, we anticipated that and said we’re going to need to be able to provide more services than we provide today,” Luellen said. “And this is really the first step in that evolution of providing more services. As you can see, this is a beautiful, large piece of property that allows us to evolve over time without relocating.”
In addition to the health care benefits the new facility will provide, there will be a direct economic benefit, said Tim Jones, the senior project manager for Massaro Construction Group. Although Massaro is based in Pittsburgh, Pa., Jones said members of the design team and major subcontractors for the project are local. He believes 70% of the contract value is flowing through local subcontractors.
With a blessing from Bishop David J. Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown, Tuesday marked the official groundbreaking. However, earth actually began moving last week, and Jones predicts a completion around the end of 2026. That timeline includes underground utilities being added this fall, with structural steel coming out of the ground. In 2026, the project will be closed in.
This isn’t the only project on Mercy Health’s plate in the Mahoning Valley. The 60-bed Mercy Health Rehabilitation Hospital opened in Liberty Township in November 2024. Mercy Health and its partner, Lifepoint Rehabilitation, are currently building a behavioral health facility next door on Belmont Avenue.
Massaro, a family-owned 60-year-old general contracting business, also has been in charge of the two Liberty Township projects. Jones said Massaro is “honored and humbled” to have been chosen again to work on the latest project.
“We’ve been blessed because we’re working with a contractor who values our local subcontractors, and they’re able to bring those local subcontractors to deliver these projects on time and on budget and in a very high quality,” Luellen said.
Luellen said Mercy Health is also constructing a new sleep study lab in Boardman. And additional construction is happening at Mercy Health – St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to allow the system to expand services.
The new freestanding emergency facility will join Mercy Health – Austintown, where Gardiner said about 100 people are treated every day.
“The construction of Mercy Health – Champion Emergency Center is about more than bricks and mortar,” Gardiner said. “It’s about our neighbors. It’s about our care. It’s about our compassion. I’m also proud of the fact that we meet people where they are. … We’re not just building a building through this project – we’re strengthening the health care fabric of our entire region.”
Pictured at top: Breaking ground on the new Mercy Health-Champion ER and Imaging Services building are, from left, Mickey LeRoy, principal, GBBN, project architectural firm; Jenn Lohry, director of imaging for Mercy Health – Youngstown and Warren region; Dr. Steve Olsen, emergency medicine at Mercy Health – St. Joseph Warren Hospital; Dr. Jill Uberti, vice president of medical affairs at St. Joseph Warren Hospital, emergency medicine physician and associate program director of emergency residency at St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital; Tim Jones, senior project manager, Massaro Construction Group; Dr. John Luellen, Mercy Health state president, Ohio; Charlotte Gardiner, president of Mercy Health – St. Joseph; Missy Rucci, vice president of nursing at Mercy Health – St. Joseph; Troy Frye, director of design and construction for Mercy Health; Stephen Suszczynski, emergency department nursing manager for Mercy Health; and Alison Kovach, regional director of laboratory services for Mercy Health.