January 25, 2025
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News Register
WHEELING — Longtime Wheeling physician Dr. William Mercer has received a national award for his leadership in the medical community.
The Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed), a national network for those working in long-term care facilities, awarded four “Visionary Leaders” for its 2025 leadership and excellence awards. Mercer was recognized as this year’s Medical Director of the Year.
Mercer has been the Medical Director of Wheeling Hospital’s Continuous Care Center for the past two years and works with elderly residents at Peterson Healthcare Center and Good Shepherd Nursing Home.
He also founded Project HOPE, a team of volunteer doctors that treat Wheeling’s unhoused population, and goes on weekly rounds at the homeless encampment in the team’s mobile healthcare van.
“I’m happy to go to work every day. It’s not work. I have fun,” Mercer said. “This is a very nice award.”
As a medical director, Mercer focuses on improving patients’ quality of life and keeping care up to date. He also works with state legislators on public policy and educates staff, physicians and family members of patients about what it’s like to live – and work – in a nursing home.
“It’s kind of gotten a bad rap in the past. We’re trying to change that,” he said.
Mercer is an easily recognizable figure, often donning one of his many Peanuts ties, his yellow Charlie Brown phone case and custom Snoopy lunchbox. His huge collection of Peanuts memorabilia is displayed at the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum.
Ever humble about the work he does, Mercer said he is very honored by the award, but acknowledged all the other administrators, providers, legislators and caregivers that he works closely with.
“It’s not just me, it’s working with a lot of different people,” he said.
Mercer strives to provide individualized care and community to those he works with, like when he took a sick, elderly Project HOPE patient for a day of fun and games at Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack because it was something she had always wanted to do.
Or when he takes nursing home residents on field trips to tour his Peanuts collection at the museum.
“They’re here in a nursing home, long term care. This is where they’re going to die. Let’s give them something they’re going to enjoy,” Mercer said.
In his director role, Mercer works closely with legislators to shape the future of long term care. Currently, he is pushing for medical marijuana to be accessible to nursing home residents in the state.
Mercer is also working to ensure that medical directors across West Virginia have proper training and certifications for the role, something that ensures the success of long-term care facilities through challenging events like the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Former U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, with whom Mercer has worked closely on some of these legislative issues, personally supported Mercer’s nomination for the award, calling him “instrumental” in helping to improve quality of life for long-term care residents in Ohio County.
Continuous Care Administrator Christine Tarr nominated Mercer and also had glowing things to say about her years of working with him.
“His passion for treating others as you would want to be treated is exemplified in the fact that Dr. Mercer makes a conscious effort to learn and commit to memory, the names, and the aspirations of those he serves,” Tarr said in a statement.
Mercer said awards like these “can empower you to do more” and give even more credibility to legislative pushes like the ones he is working on.
It all comes back to wanting to improve quality of life, Mercer said, and he just can’t stay away from his work in the community.
“I was in family medicine for 39 years, I retired and then I couldn’t take it,” Mercer said. “My two loves definitely are the nursing home and the homeless – well, three, The Peanuts.”
This year’s awards will be presented at PALTmed’s annual conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in March.
