Bickering will end

Fantastic news is the only way to describe the proposed confederation of St. Joseph's Hospital and Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital under the umbrella of West Virginia United Health Services.

The major players of all parties involved have come together to sell St. Joe's to WVUHS, and then CCMH affiliate with WVUHS, which means the two Parkersburg hospitals will be under the same umbrella and no longer fighting between themselves.

The result should be improved health care in the Mid-Ohio Valley, expanded services and programs and quicker access to the best available health services. The area should become a destination for health care as well as a destination for training doctors.

This is a situation where everyone in the Mid-Ohio Valley wins: the hospitals, patients, medical personnel and medical students.

Hopefully, all state and federal authorities will look favorably on the confederation, and it will move quickly through the process to reality long before the anticipated four to six months.