Michael Caruso Urges Funding to Fix Deferred Maintenance at Welch Hospital

Michael Caruso told the House Finance Committee Friday he is seeking $1 million in supplemental funding for Welch Community Hospital in McDowell County to repair the parking lot, patch the roof and purchase operating-room equipment as part of a broader push to address aging state-run psychiatric facilities. Caruso said the request comes amid ongoing talks about the hospital’s future operating model and partnerships.

Caruso also presented requests for two other state psychiatric hospitals: $4.9 million for Weston’s Sharpe Hospital and $4.3 million for Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington. The three individual figures sum to $10.2 million in requested work across the facilities, drawn from separate line items Caruso described to members of the finance committee.

Sharpe Hospital, now 33 years old, has a package of deferred maintenance items Caruso is asking the Legislature to fund, including replacement windows, installation of 180 security cameras and new carpeting. Caruso framed the $4.9 million ask specifically as a capital request to remedy those building needs.

Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital, described as a 75-year-old building and “in the worst shape” among the facilities, was the focus of the most urgent testimony. Caruso warned lawmakers, “Your facility infrastructure is falling apart there,” and described collapsing plumbing: “The pipes are basically disintegrating (in the walls) there..so I need pipes to pump up water to get them to the top of the building to make sure we have heat and air conditioning for the residents there.” Deputy Secretary Aaron Snodgrass told the finance committee that the $4.3 million “would be just enough to get by” and that “the deferred maintenance list at Bateman is much longer than this presentation.”

Caruso framed the trio of requests against recent shifts in state-run long-term care: the state sold four long-term care facilities and licenses to a private company last year but remains the operator of the three psychiatric hospitals Caruso discussed. For Welch specifically, Caruso said leadership is “spending a lot of time with experts, talking with potential partners about where to go with Welch Community Hospital,” signaling possible changes in ownership or management alongside the immediate repair needs.

Caruso repeatedly tied the funding appeals to service continuity, telling the committee, “It’s very important that we provide services to the community.” The Welch request was characterized in his presentation as supplemental funding, while the Sharpe and Bateman figures were presented as legislative asks to cover identified deferred maintenance.

House Finance Committee members heard the presentations Friday; Caruso and Deputy Secretary Snodgrass left the committee with a list of targeted repairs but acknowledged gaps remain. Snodgrass noted the Bateman funding would only keep the hospital running “until something else can be done at that location,” leaving broader timelines, buyer names for last year’s sales and full line-item deferred maintenance lists to be clarified in follow-up.