The West Virginia University Medicine building being constructed in Greene County is different from the other facilities spread across West Virginia. Once construction completes this fall, MedExpress Urgent Care will merge into the facility and collaborate with WVU Medicine for the first time.

Jessica Belt, director of Ambulatory Nursing at WVU Medicine said the partnership made sense, given the fact that MedExpress Urgent Care is already established in the area.

“They have a MedExpress which is right there at the interstate interchange,” Belt said. “They are actually going to be closing that one down and moving over into this same facility.”

Right now, Belt said the two organizations will combine once the WVU Medicine building opens Sept. 15. The MedExpress currently in Greene County won’t close until it’s moved over to the new building, Belt said.

MedExpress isn’t the only operation joining WVU Medicine, however. Dr. Darrell Donley, an internal medicine doctor in Waynesburg, will receive space in the new building once it’s completed. While Donley has been in operation for many years, Belt said within the past year and a half he’s joined WVU Medicine. Once all aspects of the new building come together, Belt said it will be an ‘anchor’ featuring a range of specialists on top of Dr. Donley’s internal medicine experience.

“It will be our primary care anchor,” Belt said. “But then, we will also have an OBGYN; we’ll have orthopedics and several different specialties in orthopedics and our heart and vascular institute will have physicians there as well for cardiology and vascular.”

Belt said the new building serves a dual purpose of providing care to existing patients as well as bringing new ones to WVU Medicine.

“We assume that what we are doing is we are providing access to our patients that are currently being seen,” Belt said. “But our goal is obviously to then gain more of the Waynesburg population because we can provide care for them right there.”

Just like the other WVU Medicine buildings, Belt said it will serve some educational purposes for medical students. However, Belt said the use of the Greene County facility won’t be predominantly for students.

“We do education in all of our facilities, but it’s not a primary site for our education,” Belt said. “So, while we may have some medical students, I do see there being the ability to collaborate and partner with the Waynesburg nursing program to have that opportunity to see what it’s like in a clinic facility.”

Since breaking ground on the building last year, Belt said construction plans have already altered to open up more exam rooms.

“When we initially designed the building, we had designed for about 23 exam rooms and one procedure room,” Belt said. “After we broke ground we changed that a little bit…We had such a great response from the Waynesburg community that we decided to add to that and go ahead and build out some of that shelf space.”

The expansion will now include 30 exam rooms and two procedure rooms, according to Belt. Construction on the building is now under roof, Belt said, and workers have begun the drywalling process.