If the River Valley facility can't be a full-fledged hospital, what other health care need could it fill?

That was the focus at Thursday's "blue ribbon" panel meeting that looked at health/wellness uses - one of four general categories of potential ideas for the former River Valley Health Systems building that were identified last month.

The community panel created by Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital made up of elected officials, business leaders and community members from across the Tri-State met Thursday for the third time to determine in what way the building located at 2228 S. Ninth St. could best be utilized to benefit the entire region.

At the last meeting, the group narrowed the uses to four categories - housing, business, education and health/wellness.

Michael Stautberg, vice president of external affairs for OLBH, said that as far as health/wellness uses most people said they would like to see a fitness or some type of multi-faceted medical plaza that could provide doctor's offices, lab space and other uses.

"We were looking at the most important health care needs for Ironton and the surrounding areas," Stautberg said. "How are the facilities currently available meeting the health care needs and what is something that is possibly missing?"

He emphasized that this was only discussion and these ideas merit further exploration.

The panel also looked at a comparison study conducted by OLBH that identified other hospitals in the state that had closed and examined what those facilities are now being used for.

Stautberg said that many of these facilities are still sitting empty, but some have been demolished, one was turned into a cooperative rehabilitation hospital and another one in Cincinnati was converted into an office complex.

"We are focusing on positive and future uses of the building," he said. "We have a lot of quality and dedicated community volunteers that are giving of their time and energy in a positive fashion to consider and investigate future use of the River Valley facility."

The panel also received an update on the condition of the phone system and information technology wiring.

Much of the phone system was in disrepair and will need to be replaced. A majority of the building will also need to be wired with current technology to handle modern computers.