New OVHC director looking forward
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STEUBENVILLE -- There’s a sign that hangs on the wall of the executive director’s office at the Ohio Valley Health Center that sums up the work the nonprofit does.
It reads, “Where It’s Free to be Healthy,” and that phrase is just one of the reasons Alisa DelGuzzo decided the position was right for her.
“I had been volunteering here for four-and-a-half years, so the health center was not foreign to me,” she said. “I think it takes a special person to do a nonprofit and to work at the health center. It holds a special place in my heart. I like what the health center does. I like that it helps people and our community.
“I like the mission -- to provide high-quality health care to the uninsured and underinsured residents of the Ohio Valley,” she added.
DelGuzzo has been on the job for about a month, having replaced longtime director Ann Quillen, who retired at the end of June after serving two stints in the role -- from 2008 to 2015 and from 2020 through the end of last month.
She inherits a staff that has helped the health center, which is located at 423 South St., grow since it began operations in 2006.
“The staff is part of the reason I took the job,” DelGuzzo explained. “It’s a strong staff, and they make it easy. They’ve made the transition easy, and they have been very helpful. They are very knowledgeable. The patients love them, the physicians love them and the practitioners love them. They have a soft spot in their hearts for the health center, and they take a lot of pride in it.”
Among those longtime employees is Michael Hauber, who recently was promoted to nursing director.
A St. Clairsville resident, DelGuzzo said she has been involved in the health care industry for more than 13 years. A graduate of Franklin University, she served as a manager at an OB-GYN office in Columbus straight out of college. After moving back to her hometown to raise her family, she worked at Wheeling Corrugating Co., doing jobs in sales, accounting and IT. Most recently, she worked with Trevida Healthcare, adding that most of her career has been in skilled nursing and long-term care.
She described the members of the center’s board of directors as amazing, adding that they have been very supportive of her. Area residents have stood behind the center since it first opened its doors, and that support continues to be important, DelGuzzo added.
“The community is very supportive of the center,” she said. “I think that’s because, in my opinion, you never know when you are going to need the services of the health center. There are patients here who I didn’t realize were patients, who I have seen out in the community. It’s amazing to know that we can help them. It’s one of the nonprofits in the area that everybody supports. Everybody comes together for it.”
Since the health center first opened on North Fourth Street -- it moved to Trinity Medical East before settling in the city’s South End -- it has recorded more than 32,000 patient visits from more than 5,000 individuals and provided care valued at more than $14 million. Last year, it served 502 patients, recorded 3,474 visits and filled 4,470 prescriptions with a total value of $531,953. All of that adds up to $1,775,957 in free health care.
Despite that support and providing all of that health care, the work done there remains unknown to a significant number of area residents.
“One of my top goals is community outreach,” DelGuzzo explained. “There are a lot of people who know about the health center, but there are many more people who don’t. When I took the position and told people where I would be working and what I would be doing, they said, ‘Where?’
“Community outreach is a big thing for me, brand recognition and everything,” she added. “Getting out there and doing that community outreach in those smaller, rural areas and letting people who live there know there is a place to go and get care if you need it is important.”
DelGuzzo said patients who come to the center for the first time can be quiet and apprehensive. Those concerns tend to disappear quickly.
“They don’t really want to tell their stories, but the practitioners sit down with them for as long as an hour,” she said. “By the time they’re walking out of here, they are confident in themselves and the care they receive. You’re not judged when you come here -- you are getting excellent, high-quality health care. That’s our mission and we stand by it. If you were to talk with any patients, they would say they get great care here.
“When people come here, they are coming because something is wrong,” she added. “They’re not coming here because they need an annual checkup. They’re coming here because something is wrong and they need help.”
Among the programs operated at the health center is the “Farmacy,” which allows qualified patients who have prescriptions to receive free vegetables provided through a farm in Smithfield. It runs for 15 weeks and is designed to improve eating habits.
In September, the center will begin a residency program in partnership with East Liverpool City Hospital. Each resident will complete a four-week block at the center, which could lead to an expansion of operations beyond the 32 hours a week it currently offers.
There will be a women’s health event taking place in February, DelGuzzo added.
The health center is planning its sixth annual kickball tournament, which will be held beginning at 10 a.m. Sept. 12 at Belleview Park. It is the second-biggest annual fundraising event the center holds, behind the annual gala, which has become a fixture on the April calendar. For information, contact the center at (740) 283-2856. All money raised ensures the health center can continue its mission.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” DelGuzzo said. “We have more than 800 active patients, and it’s not just from Jefferson County -- it’s from the Ohio Valley. We need to get people to understand that it’s not just Jefferson County, that you can come from Belmont County or Harrison County -- you can come from different counties.”