Leaders celebrate addition of Washington Health System to UPMC

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Washington Health System has been in the community for 125 years. It’s now seeing big changes.

The hospital is now UPMC Washington. Doctors and nurses we talked to Wednesday want the patients to know when they walk through these doors that it’s still going to feel like your neighborhood community hospital.

The merger will help preserve access to affordable health care in Washington and Greene counties, where the rural hospitals had been losing millions of dollars.

“I was born here, my family is from here, we are a rural hospital we are not big city living,” Burgess said. “If we would have let this hospital fail and not have UPMC come in, and save a rural hospital in this country which are dying every day.”

The merger comes with a $300 million investment from UPMC, which Dr. John Six said will help give access to cutting-edge medical advancements, expand services and keep the neighborhood feel and relationships.

“There may be a different name on the marquee. The great patient care, vision and values we’ve had for 125 years is exactly the same,” Dr. Six said.

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