New W.Va. post-acute hospital could bring 100 jobs: 5 things to know

A planned multimillion-dollar hospital expansion in South Charleston, W.Va., could bring with it about 100 full-time jobs, according to a report from The Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Here are five things to know about the proposed project.

1. South Charleston-based Thomas Health System plans to partner with Stonerise Healthcare, a local nursing home, on a $17 million post-acute care facility in South Charleston.

2. The 71,000-sqaure-foot facility is expected to be built on the campus of Thomas Memorial Hospital, and will specialize in pulmonary, cardiac telemetry, joint-replacement rehabilitation, wound care, cancer/palliative care and long-term care, according to the report.

3. Officials with both organizations hope to begin the project this summer.

4. The project needs approval from the West Virginia Health Care Authority.

5. In the meantime, Dan Lauffer, president and CEO of Thomas Health System, is optimistic about the project. "This will allow all of this care to occur in one setting, and I think that has a lot of appeal for patients who are thinking, 'Who is the provider in my community that can best coordinate my care?' Families think the same way," he said, according to The Chareleston Gazette-Mail. "It becomes a very stressful time for families when they start thinking about things like post-acute care — patients who can't go home because they can't yet take care of themselves, who have to go to a long-term care facility for a while — this provides us an opportunity to coordinate that care a lot more closely than we ever have."