The Community, Connections & Commerce Podcast, presented by OUE & St. Clairsville Chamber - Community and Connections Season 2 Episode 16 with WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital - Jessica Moore

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Welcome back to Community and Connections. I'm your host Jason Gersick. I'm joined here again with Sam. How are you? I'm stepping in. I'm good. How are you? We're going to take some jobs.

Yes, we are. Yes. Drake's not with us today. So glad to have our guest, Jess Moore. Welcome. Hi, thanks. Thanks. You're with WVU Medicine.

Sure, and what's your title with the organization? I'm the Associate Vice President of Foundations and Community Relations. Okay. And what does that job entail? So it was a new position that was created. when the regional cancer center project was announced. It was quickly identified from administration that had no one in the hospital

that could currently raise money. And for projects like this, we certainly turned to the community for some help and support. So I've been there about two and a half years and I multifaceted. So I represent WV Medicine out in the community. Obviously, some of our docs

are very involved in the community, but they're also very busy taking care of patients. So I'm out in the community, hearing the complaints and compliments and feedback from the, the community on Karen, we do everything we can to share the good news with our staff when those compliments come through and also address any complaints that come through and help further explain a lot of times there's miscommunication on the back end. So further explain the reasoning for

that type of feedback. And then also I run our marketing team. Well, I oversee our marketing team, Phil Carl runs it. But he is fantastic. We're a good team. And we have a great team of marketing folks who handle all the lovely commercials that you hear on stations such as this and also all of our outreach in the community with sponsors. You know, we really like to partner more so than just slap our logo on something. And then also, you know, on that side of things, while I'm asking the community to support our projects financially, all of the requests for those sponsorships come to my desk as well. So any of the community support you see out there usually across my desk and we thoughtfully place

our marketing dollars in a way that's going to help our community and help further our mission and purpose in the community. That's a long-winded answer for my job. Well, let's go back a little bit. You mentioned, you know, you've been there going on two years or two and a half years. Okay, prior to that, you have a fundraising background if you want to kind of go into that a little bit, which then led you to where you are today. Sure. So I worked in media for a while, and then I worked for the United Way of the Upper High Valley as their executive director for five of the six years. there. So certainly fundraising and the community has a really, really strong place in my heart. I know the need that's in the community and sometimes we don't physically see that or visually see

that. So I know that the majority of the folks that we help through the United Way are also patients at our hospitals. So it's helped to be able to support nonprofit organizations that I know are helping them outside of what we can help them with at the hospital. And also when I think about our general demographic, that's the population that I see that I think we need to really focus on and help. And not just the patient population, our employee staff as well. So we make sure that we're where we need to be as far as overall understanding of our community. I think the United Way really, really helped with that. It led right into where you're at now. Yes. Yep. It's another way that I can help the community. I wouldn't have been able to take the position with WVU Medicine had I not been on the

board there for a couple of years and really saw the changes that had come since WVU Medicine came on board in 2019. I saw the quite literal statistics of everything moving in the right direction and I thought, you know, when I got the call from Bernie Twig asking me to join the board when I was still with you and Idaway and I said, Bernie, I can barely fill out my health insurance information without getting confused. How am I going to come in here? And I'm sure most people can relate. How am I going to help as a board representative for this hospital system? and he said, we need people that love this community to see the changes that's happening there, and we need that word to get out.

And I knew from being with you and Idaway that I didn't see a whole ton of engagement from WV Medicine at that point. Prior, prior administration had a little bit more of a difficult time, really keeping doors closed, keeping information internal. But that communication, you know, our CEO, Doug Harrison now is so transparent with that type of communication. So being able to be out in the community and to talk to people about it, I thought. But even as a board member at the time, that's something that I could help with and take pride in.

And then when this position became available, I thought this is another way for me to further that reach in the community, make people feel confident about receiving care close to home and use a big name like WVU Medicine to support our community, as I mentioned, in the nonprofit sector and partnerships and beyond. There's a lot that goes into fundraising. There's a lot that goes into support behind the scenes. A lot of people, they see the gala, they see the balls. see the golf scrambles, they see all the different things. They don't realize everything that goes into it. So, and it's people like you that pull that off that make those things happen. Oh, it's challenging.

I remember more so with the United Way. We've had a couple events since I've been with WVU Medicine, but United Way, I just remember having some events down at Center Market and thinking about all the work that goes into that, the scheduling the volunteers and getting sponsors so it's profitable and a good, a good event, but also the bringing the community together portion of those cannot be overlooked. So yes, you go and you know, you have a drink and grab something to eat and listen to music and it's so much fun, you don't know the work that goes behind it, but you're being a part of it just by attending because the community coming together like that is what makes this place special. That's where we collaborate. That's where we communicate. That's where we form friendships and

partnership. So I think that's the best part of those type of fundraisers is that you're bringing the community together. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. So you wanted to talk about some new developments that are going on with WVU medicine. I do. So you know how you attach yourself to a project, whatever it is, whether it's a radio show or something you're doing out in the community? It's your baby. I was going to just say that. And you kind of call it your baby. Well, our WVU Medicine Children's Outpatient Center has been my baby for the last 18 months. So I'm a mom of three. Now I have two kids in high school, which is wild, right? And then I have a sixth grade. and I remember what it was like to try to find parking at the hospital with a baby and a carrier and a toddler in my holding my hand navigating the hospital and getting upstairs. Now the care we've gone through Dr. Mossman forever and he's been fabulous. I've never gotten up there and been

disappointed but the stress of the parents just to get everything that you need in a diaper bag or a stroller capacity navigate the hospital five parking whatever get up there. I don't think I was on time for an appointment. Sorry, sorry Dave Mossman. But so So for me alone, like I saw a friend of mine. I was sitting, I don't have, my office is actually at, on Wheeling University's campus on the right way in that building. So that's where my office is. So I'm off campus.

And I'll go and set up at a table in the lobby sometimes with my laptop and do some work and get to see people come through. I remember seeing a friend of mine come through. And she had a baby and a carrier. And I knew this was a freshly cooked baby. And she's like, and I just looked over. I was like, hey, Lindsay, ah, you know, freshly good baby. And she just looked at me, it was like, my husband didn't put the stroller in the car.

And then she just took off running. I have mentioned that to her. And she doesn't even remember that interaction. So I think that one of the, this is my lead up to let you know that we have like street level separate parking from the hospital at this children's center. And while there are a lot of beautiful features, if you've ever had to navigate that situation, that is just right there, a breath of fresh air. you can pull up, park right there, walk right in directly to the place where you need to be. So a little bit about that center, it'll be right across from the main campus at Wheeling Hospital. That entire first floor has been empty for quite some time.

It's completely gutted and ready to go. Within the next week or two, we'll probably pick the company who is putting the bid in for the construction. And then we will break ground within probably by October at the latest. will break ground on that space. So that's so exciting. We've been talking about it for so long and it's here. But that space is really beautiful and the layout is kind of a V back into the hills of that hillside. So imagine that in the fall. And there's windows in pretty much every exam room, which isn't something that we currently have in pediatrics. And there is an element of outdoor space and healing. So that, obviously, a beautiful space, but there's going to be a separate entrance for well and sick.

So not only are they're not, you know, door handles, you're going to have to pull with contaminated hands, but there's completely separate sides. You know, we've had separate waiting rooms, but you're still all navigating through the hospital. So again, if you have one of those freshly cooked babies, you go into the well side to have the visit. You're not even going past the germy side of the kids that, kiddos that were taking care of that are ill. So that's a really big feature. The 37 exam rooms is kind of bringing all of our pediatric care under one roof, all of our local pediatricians, see folks out of there, which makes an after-hours clinic really, really valuable where we'll be

open until 8 o'clock. Oh, wow. And for kids, I mean, kids get sick anytime. So that's a huge benefit. But also, you know, if you have a job where you're not able to leave work to take your kid to their annual well visit, right? Your kid's fine. These are the, how taller are they and blood pressure and eyesight and weight, yeah, all of that.

But those are such, those are so critical in. identifying concerns or identifying things that we may ever look as parents or caregivers. So those are really, really important type of appointments. And if you can't leave work, if you have to take vacation time to do it, what's happening is that people aren't getting their well visits and they're not identifying things. Just my example, I have two daughters that have glasses and that was identified in our eye screening at their pediatric appointments. So that's something that's super beneficial for our families to be able to schedule those visits

after work, after school, keeping the kids in school, keeping the kids in work. We also have a dedicated lab and imaging, pediatric lab in imaging. It's a lot different if you've ever had to take a kiddo in to get some blood work. Sitting in a comfy chair, their size and in a colorful room is a lot more relaxing to them. And I bring up all of these features, but truly, it's statistically proven if kids are comfortable receiving medical care in their youth, then they will be more comfortable receiving medical care forever. It's not the big scary, like gray doctor, big chairs. It's not as intimidating.

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll have Austin's Playroom. So the Maryland Mew Foundation does Austin's playrooms, which are essentially, they've done them in inpatient centers, and our center is completely outpatient. But Marilyn Mew had a son who was premature and they had to go in and visit the son quite a a bit.

And the other kids and the family didn't have anything to do. and this was in an era before iPads. And there was just a TV in the screen, hoping kids would be occupied for sometimes hours. So they decided to make these Austin's playrooms, essentially for the siblings. Well, we're the first outpatient center that they've decided to build one in.

So our well side will have a playroom, which, again, calms kids down, you know, makes them ready to come see the doctor. That's what they remember is coming to that space. And then one of my favorite features, we are working with graphic design students at West Liberty and they are going to be doing wall murals. It's sponsored by Ogilby, and they're doing wall murals that are like seek and find kind of hidden picture, count the

objects. Oh, like the highlight magazines when we were kids. Yes. So they'll have, we'll have about five different designs that rotate through those 37 exam rooms as like a wall mural on each wall. Oh, that's fun. That's awesome. Yeah, I love that. That's one of my favorite features of the center. It's been really fun to work on. Those are the little things. Those, they're not little, but those little hidden features are what make really successful, I don't want to say business, but experiences for people. It's kind of like you go to a nice hotel, they leave you chocolate. Or you get off an air flight and they have a hot towel waiting, you know, to wipe your, that sounds, it's not the same as a hospital experience, but it's those little thoughts that

people put into things that make the experience better for the customer, the patient, and that's what it sounds like, you know, you guys have put into this children's center. Yeah, I've been very impressed by our pediatricians, and obviously they care for patients, right? Specifically pediatricians, you know, they're really hands-on and care for their patients. But the thought that they had, I was fortunate to be in the room when the first brainstorming sessions of the center really started. And the thought and care that they put into, we can't put that there, kids could pinch their fingers. We can't put that there. This would be in the way of X. You know, those thoughts were really important. And when we talked about the

special features of the center, they had all kids would love that that would be so great or you know they could be sitting in the exam room and testing eyes or the dilation of the pupils and they could say look over my shoulder can you find the you know blue butterfly or something like that so they can engage plus they love getting kids off screens and having them have that one interaction or one-on-one interaction with their caregivers while they're waiting and that makes the weight move a little quicker if we do get backlogged and have some big cases that need some special attention the kids are enjoying themselves in that room it's not sitting there staring a white wall. Is this going to alleviate for parents a lot of the

travel to like the main camp, the Morgantown area for the Children's Hospital down there? Is there there going to be offerings here and wheeling that will keep people here? Yes. So it's an in it's an outpatient center. So any inpatient care, they would still go to WVU Medicine Children's, but we'll have four specialty clinic offices at this space so that again having all of our pediatric under one roof, if they need to see somebody for a consultation, we'll talk about like pediatric diabetes, for example, they would be able to have a consultation there. So doctors from children's currently do come up here now to visit some of our different sites. This will be something consistent. Four different specialties would be available. We don't know that they'll all be filled,

every time you come in, but you'll have the opportunity of, you know, you were planning on going down in a month to see something for a follow-up. If that physician is up here, then you have the opportunity to stay here close to home, which is the entire purpose of WVU medicine and how we operate throughout the state is keeping care close to home. So you don't have to travel to get that type of care. And again, we were talking earlier about this vulnerable population. That's if you have good transportation, you can get to Morgantown. If you don't, you're missing all of those opportunities. So these specialty clinics are also to help that underprivileged population of kids that have some special needs. That's awesome. And I think I really like, as you pointed your favorite part

about the colorful walls and the sea can find because I think that will allow children to feel more comfortable in that environment. That's right. It's scary enough going to the doctor's office as a little one. So getting shots or whatever you're getting. Yeah. And that's great. They're Ogleby themed. So they'll be familiar too. So I think I think that's cool. You know, picture a shank lake with like a little frog laying in like with sunglasses on and a little chair by the lake or, you know, ducks or swans floating around with like hats and sunglasses. So it'll be fun, cute, interactive. And then again, I want my doctor's office. Right. I agree. I love this. Not just the kids. You mentioned highlights. That's so funny because every time I bring that up, I said, do you remember like those highlights magazines where you

flip through and find stuff? Yeah. I was always mad when I opened one and somebody got to it before me. I know exactly what you mean. I had a brother. Yeah. I have a brother. He did that to me. And WVU Medicine just continues to grow throughout the Ohio Valley. I mean, we've got the children's. Then the big announcement came with the cancer hospital facility that's going to be on the old campus of OVMC, correct? Yes. That is huge for the Ohio Valley. It'll be great for this area. And I love that I mentioned our CEO, Doug Harrison, said, this will continue to be a place of healing.

Yeah. You know, I had all three of my children at OV. And so it's a special place for a lot of us in the community that had some ties back to that space, especially the folks who work there. So we're excited to be able to keep this as a. place of a continued healing. And I think down in that area, you know, we've been very thoughtful and what we're putting in the facility because we want center market to benefit from having this influx of people in that area too. So beyond just the cancer center and obviously it being a beautiful place for healing for folks going through that, we hope that it's an economy booster

for that part of the area as well because there's lots of restaurants and shops down in that area. And we're going to, you know, dump thousands of people in that space. So it could be really, really beneficial for them as well. Well, because, I mean, I've been touched by cancer, not myself personally, but, you know, everybody in some way, shape, or form have been touched by cancer. Somebody, you know, somebody, a relative. So to have that right here instead of traveling out of the area, which, you know, many people do, is a comfort for a lot of folks. Because a lot of people, like you said, number one, they don't have the transportation. Number two, maybe they physically can't transfer out of, you know, out of the area. So to have this right in our own backyard

is going to be a huge boost emotionally, physically, economically. All of those categories are going to be affected by what they're bringing, what WVU is bringing. Yeah, and I think that one-stop shop too. So even if you're from this community and you receive your care locally right now, we're sending you a bunch of different places. There are certain places in the hospital, for example, radiation, oncology, medical oncology, or completely separate parts of the hospital. Any lab work or any of that

are in separate parts of the hospital. So much like the Children's Center where you're talking about it all being under one roof and accessible to folks, especially a cancer population where you may be a little more tired, certainly mentally affected by the diagnosis, being able to walk through one set of doors

to receive everything that you need, I think is going to be a giant benefit for people and it's going to help streamline our care and our efficiency as a hospital system as well. And then hopefully, as you mentioned, you know, I mentioned these specialty clinics for the Children's Center. In the same vein, we can have folks that are specialists at the cancer center come up here.

So maybe you don't have to go down to Morgantown for a consultation. Again, especially if you, you know, cancer doesn't say we only hit a wealthy population who can afford the best medicine and the most travel. There's a very heavy population of this community who gets diagnosed and they're not able to receive the same type of treatment because of delay of cancer. where they can't get transportation where they need to go and all of that. So this really puts them on a level playing field with those who have been able to travel outside to get that type of care. Well, because there's the patient who is going through having, I want to say horrible treatment because it is so hard on the body.

I've seen it firsthand. It's so hard on the body. But what gets lost in the conversation are the caretakers a lot of the times. And the caretakers physically are tired too. They're physically taking care of the patients at home. They're driving them here, driving them there to this point. So to have this, again, in our own backyard is going to alleviate not only for the patients, but for the caretakers too.

And I think that's a huge point that needs to be hit upon to remind people because it's hard. It's hard being a caretaker. It really is. With every diagnosis and something like cancer, it does require consistency of appointments, consistency of care, more lab work, things like. that if you aren't able to transport yourself around or if you are, but you have now this really big desire to have somebody walk alongside you in that space, you're absolutely right. It's really challenging for caretakers as well.

So just an overview on the center. I didn't know this number until we started down this path, right? The annual cancer incident across the service area, which is our region here, is over 2,000 new cases. That's a huge number. When you think about, you know, who hasn't been touched by cancer, I guess that 2000 isn't super shocking. But to put that number and try to put our community members faces to it is a pretty huge number.

Is that a year? It's the annual. Okay. Wow. Okay. And then it will be four stories. So if you've seen the renderings, they are out there. You can look them up.

It'll be a four story about 125,000 foot, square foot project. The layout of the, I call it like the cake layers when they break down, what's going to go where. A lot of the details there are pretty broad at this point. We're still narrowing down. Everyone asks about the timeline. So we're looking at possibly the end of first quarter or second quarter next year. We'll probably break ground on that project. And from the beginning, and they're sticking with that as of now, you know, construction and things like that happened.

But we're looking at seeing patience in fall of 28. So if you think about the project and how huge it is and details that have to go into it more than just building a house when you're right, when you're talking about. what we're putting together. That's the timeline that we can see where we hope to see patients by fall of 28. What has the community response been for both of these projects? What's the feedback? The outreach has been fantastic. And the outreach, I meant the feedback. The feedback has been fantastic. People were reaching out consistently. When I run across, folks, they're like, thank God, this is happening here. And there's a lot more, as I mentioned, the impact of maybe places like center market, but just the impact of announcing that we're having a center like that from a recruiting

standpoint has been wonderful. I remember the first time that we came through, somebody reached out to me because I was quoted in one of our releases, and somebody reached out to me and said, you know, I've been from the Valley, I've been out work, you know, working as a physician elsewhere, and I'm looking to relocate and I'm looking to come back in town with this announcement, it sounds like this might be where I gear my thought of coming back in. Also, when we're recruiting some of the best docs from the region to come here and serve our patients in West Virginia, that's been really attractive to them to have a new center where they feel that, you know, we're literally building it from the ground up. So if somebody comes in and helps as a physician,

they can do what I mentioned with the pediatric center, right? The pediatricians, we're all sitting around talking about what's best for our patients. That's what they have an opportunity to do to be on the ground level of something that's so game-changing like this. So the feedback from the community has been great. Again, from the nonprofit community, that transportation being a big key has been something that's been really well received as well. And again, as you mentioned, everyone's been touched by cancer. I was going to go through if you don't mind. I just want to talk about some of the services that will be there.

I mentioned earlier that I've been talking about the Children's Center for almost two years. This cancer center will be my new baby starting next year. So I'm learning as I go to, but I wanted to list some of the features that the new center will include. Sure. So obviously radiation oncology and medical oncology. The compounding pharmacy, advanced diagnostic radiology, dedicated oncology laboratory, symptoms management clinic, as you know, going through chemotherapy is very, very trying on a body. Oncology rehabilitation, whether that's physical or nutritional, a specialty physician's clinic,

and then community and family amenities. You know, we're looking at a really beautiful two-story lobby that, to our primary, point about kids and care and colorful and games and interact and things like that, having a calm space for folks is different than, you know, we talked about this with children's too. When you're coming through the main doors at the hospital and you're having to navigate the hospital to get to your care, you might, you may come across some chaos on your way. This is everybody going to every different specialty in the hospital. So pull those folks have, again, separate parking designated for them, separate entrance designated for

them, them walking into a calming space, not necessarily a bustling hospital. I think it has that mental capacity you really need to be strong with when you're going through something like cancer. So we're excited to have this two-story lobby. It would just be beautiful when folks walk in, a beautiful welcoming registration area, everything calm and relaxing. A small cafe, we want to be very cognizant of the fact that we're surrounded by some great businesses locally, so we don't want to take anything away from anyone else. We do have the responsibility to have certain foods and things on site. But we want to work and have teammates throughout the, and partnerships throughout all of Center Market. We've got some outdoor seating. We've had a conversation about a

healing garden and things like that that are really specific to the team. We've talked about having a little shop there where folks can come in and, you know, we help provide wigs and head coverings to our cancer patients. This would almost be a mini boutique of sorts where they can come in and try things on to have that type of experience because it's a very personal experience. So we've been thinking about all the best ways that we can support people that are going through that cancer diagnosis at the center. For the children's, I want to go back a little bit. A couple weeks ago in one of our other episodes that will be airing, we spoke to Rosie,

the owner of Color Me Mad salon out in the Moors Town area. One thing that she has at her salon is a private autistic room for children where it's a quiet, calm space for a haircut because for a lot of children with autism, that is overwhelming to be touched to, you know, so she's done that with the new children's hospital. Is there going to be any type of specialty care, specialty areas for parents and children with autism? That's a really good point to bring up. We have, I'm thinking about outside space. We don't have necessarily a separate waiting room for children like that, but I know that you and I have a friend Amanda who's, who has a son who's autistic and I had a conversation with her. She actually did a testimonial for us,

which is really great. But I had a conversation with her and she said that something like the Austin's playroom when they come in to have him be able to do something. It's the sitting still for her son's specific needs. That's an issue. She said the Austin's playroom is something that's going to be as a mother, just a relief for her to sit down, watch him play until they go back. And then she said, again, sitting in a room of white walls, if she can be like, hey, buddy, do you see the blue butterflies and he can count the blue butterflies, that to her was something that could be really calming. Keep the attention.

That's right. So maybe not a separate space, but these spaces will be inclusive. And it sounds like from the parents who I've talked to that these are really attractive features for their kids as well. But we will have an outdoor patio as well. A beautiful walkway, J.B. Chambers Foundation is supporting that. We'll have like a turning sculpture out front. It's actually the John Marshall Shop class is going to be creating that is going to be working

on that project for us. We're really trying to use local resources and give people some great experience there. So it'll be a beautiful space. There'll be benches out front. So if they need some fresh air, feel that they need to walk out for a minute, again, a perk of it having its own street-level entrance,

they can go outside and take a breath if needed if things get too overwhelming. I think it's incredible the amount of thought that has gone on to them. Not only the Children's Center, but the Cancer Center as well. You know, it's definitely patient-centered and wanting to make them comfortable, you know, and build the best environment that they can

and build the community, you know? I think it's great. The word that's thrown around a lot is experience, and when it comes to situations, going to the doctors, going to the dentist, the experience should not be traumatic. And it sounds like the features as minute as you want to say, like you said, just like the parking. you know, a lot of things, you're used to the way it's always been. And people were afraid of change. But nine times out of ten, change tends to be good because you learn from the past.

And you bring it into, you know, a lot of times people never thought about like your story about loading the kids and everything. That's just the way it was. You just had to deal with it. Well, no, you don't have to deal with it. There are ways around. Life doesn't have to be as complicated as we make it sometimes. But back to, I just want to go back to, you know, you're the foundation. raising money. How can, if people want to get involved, say, you know, I have somebody in my family

who we lost to cancer and I want to somehow be a part of this change here for the Valley from here until forever. How can locals get involved, businesses get involved, and be a part of this? Thank you. That's a great T-Up. I appreciate you. So I'll start with the Children's Center. We are in the middle of that campaign, actually, hopefully towards the end of that campaign. We just crossed last month over $5 million that we've raised for the Children's Center. This community is wonderfully generous. They're still naming opportunities there. I've had some conversations with people for the first time working on this campaign of, do you want to leave a legacy giving? Is that something like a legacy with your last name or with your company? Is that something that you want to do? Companies we see a lot,

putting names on buildings, but individuals in this area who want to leave a legacy of somebody who has passed or a family who's been really supportive here. You can do that and we can make it more affordable with payments over X number of years. So, for example, not everybody could probably write like a $15,000 check right now today. But we have the opportunity for people to name an entire exam room where the plaque outside will be in honor of memory of dedicated to. And then a window of hope, which is frosted glass. I mentioned, we have all of these windows at the center, which is frosted glass at the

bottom. And it could be something as, you know, say I name it after my daughter and it says, the sun will come out tomorrow, dash Bella Rhine, you know. So there are ways that people can leave that type of giving and have it fit into their budgets as well over a multi-year commitment. Sometimes we think, oh, man, that's a million dollar naming opportunity. Well, they're not all a million dollars. And most of the time, someone's not stricken in check for a million dollars. It's like a five-year commitment or whatever that works on. I know I can't. I'm out. And you'll hear more about this coming up too, but we're going to do a pet wall in the

sick visit side. Again, saying thoughtful, I really appreciate you saying that because a lot of this is what would I want, you know, if my kids were still little or what was I missing out on then? We're going to do a pet wall and people will be able to give $100 donation to the Children's Center and submit a picture of their pet and it'll go up on these rotating screens in that room. Kids can't really touch a whole lot when they're in these rooms, but these cute pictures of these animals and local pets can really put a smile on their faces while they're sitting there waiting for their appointment. So there are smaller ways that people can give as well. well. And then for the children or the cancer center, we're just gearing up to launch that campaign.

So I'll have a lot more information on those opportunities in 2026. So I'm, I'm learning now about this project as I have the Children's Center. We'll be doing, you know, some of these features. Like you mentioned, Jason, I really, really love that side of things. So we'll be leaning into what those type of sponsorships can look like, what those type of naming opportunities can look like. But I would challenge you to really think about what you are able to give philanthropically, if you're someone who does or is interested in that, and have a conversation. I've never tried to upsell anyone in my whole life. You know, if I want, I'm very donor-centric, to your point, I'm patient-centric with a lot of these decisions that we've made as a team.

I want to make sure that if it's a good fit for you, I want to make sure that I'm not telling you, selling you something that's outside of your budget, or that if you don't want to put your last name on something, we don't want to do that. if you want to support your business and get that name out there that's what we want to do for you i'm very donor centric when it comes to that so if you think i want to do this but i'm not sure how and you want a low pressure conversation let's grab lunch i'm happy to have to have that conversation i don't have to walk away with the check that's not really my i know it's not how it works and it's you're thinking outside the box because you mentioned the pet wall i don't have children i was not lucky enough to have children my children are four-legged for better or for worse and they're

Ornerous sin, but they're what I have. So for me to connect to a pediatric center, I don't have that direct connection, but just what you mentioned, I thought, oh my God, I just lost two of mine. They would be, you know, I have one where his tongue sticking out. That would be great for kids to look at. It's an adorable picture. That's how somebody like myself could be involved, who initially, I thought this doesn't, I don't connect to this, but I do now. You know, that's thinking outside the box. That's a great example. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. No, we are so glad that you joined us today, Jess. It's been great talking with you and learning about what's going on with WVU medicine here in the community. And we're really excited to see these developments happen and come to fruition. Yeah, it's always nice to see you too at Rotary. It was nice to sit down and have a big conversation. That's right. We have a giving spirit in general. That's right. Absolutely. Well, we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have anything to say to us, we have email. OUEE podcast at Ohio.edu.

That's OUEEPodcast at Ohio.edu. I'd love to hear anything that you have to say. Give us any commentary about the podcast. But for Sam and I... And Jessica. And Jeff. Thank you very much for listening. Take care.