How does current St. Joe’s fit into new plan?

Staff report

WARREN

Mercy Health, owner of St. Joseph Warren Hospital, “remains committed to the city of Warren” and its current Eastland Avenue site, it says in a statement.

The hospital system is interested in being part of the proposed Enterprise Park development north of the Eastwood Mall, but Mercy Health’s Eastland site “will remain part of our strategic vision as we grow to serve the community into the next century,” Mercy Health says.

The statement is a partial answer to questions people have asked since they learned Mercy Health was interested in building a $250 million, 350,000-square foot hospital in Enterprise Park: “What will they do with the current facility?”

St. Joseph Warren Hospital has been a top employer and a significant presence on the city’s east side, with a parking lot teeming with vehicles on an average day.

An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency application says St. Joseph Warren Hospital in Enterprise Park would be a five- or six-floor “anchor and catalyst for other medical facilities,” such as an assisted living facility, medical/educational center, office building and apartments.

But when the former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital on Tod Avenue Northwest relocated to the former Warren General Hospital on Eastland Avenue in 1996, the Tod Avenue facility started to deteriorate.

A private company bought it. Today it’s an eyesore.

Mercy Health says it started looking several years ago for “sites for expansion of services within Trumbull County.” It says the idea was “similar to our investment at the Howland Medical Center.”

That is a $14.5 million facility that opened in early 2017 on state Route 46 near North River Road in Howland providing primary care; ear, nose and throat care; audiology; lab services; physical medicine and rehabilitation; diagnostic imaging and orthopedics and sports medicine.

The Mercy Health statement says many decisions have not been made yet regarding Mercy Health’s expansion in Trumbull County.

“For more than 100 years, Mercy Health has been caring for families throughout the Mahoning Valley. Today, we continue to fulfill our promise of making health care easier by providing access to care when and where people need it most.”