Technology/Healthcare
 Wheeling grew to prominence in the 19th Century thanks to its skilled craftspeople and workers in the traditional smokestack industries of iron and steel, mining and glassmaking. These industries served Wheeling well as it entered the 20th Century, and now the city steps into the next millennium braced with a new technology, not of steel and fire, but of electrons and the silicon chip. A development that stands to enhance life in Wheeling in the years to come is the forming of partnerships between business and industry and schools and colleges. One of the brightest examples of this is Wheeling Jesuit University's cooperative venture with the National Technology Transfer Center and the NASA "Classroom of the Future," located in the Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies.
The CET opened its doors in November, 1994 on Wheeling Jesuit University's campus. Working with NASA and West Virginia's congressional leadership, Wheeling Jesuit  developed the CET as a local, regional and national education source for students and teachers, parents, business and industry, as well as government agencies. It brings to Wheeling the latest in learning and teaching technologies which enhance the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence and the university's mission to educate for life, for leadership and for others.
The NASA Classroom of the Future (COTF) in the CET is the space agency's premier research and development program for educational technologies. The goal of the COTF is to enhance the learning and teaching process for math, science, technology and geography education using advanced computer, telecommunications and multimedia technologies.
CET products and accomplishments also include the award-winning Astronomy Village: Investigating the Universe, which provides teachers and students with a look into astronomy. CET is also home to BioBLAST, a high school biology supplement which teaches students about the interdependencies of vegetable and animal life. Other educational technologies for both students and teachers available through NASA's CET include Exploring the Environment Project, 2001 Master Teacher Cadre, Live From Mars, and NASA TV over the Internet.
Another component of the CET is the Challenger Learning Center which is the nation's most visited with more than 37,000 visitors in 1997. The CLC is a hands-on learning experience designed to foster interest in math, science and technology education as youngsters and adults experience simulated space missions in the mission control and space station. Because each simulated mission builds communication and team skills, Nancy Sturm, director of the CLC, offers corporate missions.
The Challenger Learning Center received the Challenger Center for Space Science Education Award for "flying" the greatest number of student missions. The center also attracted about $200,000 in corporate grants in 1997 which will be used to develop pilot programs to allow hearing- and seeing-impaired students to fly missions. The grant monies will also establish a distance learning link with schools in Summit County, Ohio.
Wheeling Jesuit University expects the CET to continue to grow and offer the latest in educational technologies to students, adults and businesses in the area.
The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) on Wheeling Jesuit's campus, chartered in 1989 through federal legislation, moves government research from federal laboratories into the hands of U.S. businesses and puts America's leading-edge technologies to work. The NTTC helps with federal technology identification, licensing, prototyping and other commercialization services.
As a national information resource on available technology and technology transfer processes, NTTC is home to more than two million documents on science and technology. It offers Market and Technology Assessment; Technology Access; Professional Development; Commercialization and Technology Gateway Services.
Market and Technology Assessment experts help federal laboratories and companies identify technologies with market potential and match these technologies with companies that can turn them into new projects and processes for America. Technology Access Services provide access to more than $70 billion in research and 100,000 researchers at more than 700 federal laboratories and 100 universities, offering professional searching and technology database management.
Technology Transfer professionals can gain valuable knowledge and skills to take technologies from laboratories to the market. NTTC's Professional Development courses teach how to assess commercialization potential, align technologies with specific industries, negotiate cooperative agreements and licenses, and find partners to further develop technologies.
NTTC's Commercialization Center is equipped with critical elements for successful product development and supports both NASA and NTTC's mission to help small and medium sized manufacturing and high technology firms in West Virginia and the surrounding region commercialize technology. The Gateway Service is a onestop shop for federal laboratory system information. NTTC's Gateway maintains the largest database of federally-funded technologies and offers Direct Internet Searching, Technology Expert Services and Market Research Services.
Into the new millennium, NTTC continues to establish and build strategic partnerships among industry, government and universities.
The private sector is also playing a role in establishing Wheeling as a technology center. Several area companies have established solid national reputations as computer technology providers.
Touchstone Research Laboratory, Ltd, in Triadelphia, W.Va. serves as the research and development laboratory and technology "doctor" for hundreds of companies throughout the United States that produce everything from Space Shuttle parts to consumer products, from garden tools to surgical equipment. During any one day, a few dozen engineers and scientists start and finish two new research projects for companies across the United States.
The NASA-sponsored X-34 Reusable Launch Vehicle is a suborbital, air-launched vehicle which will fly at speeds approaching Mach 8 (eight times the speed of sound) and at an altitude of up to 50 miles. The goal of the new X-34 "technology demonstrator" is to develop and prove the feasibility of new, reusable launch technologies aimed at dramatically reducing the costs of transporting small payloads, such as scientific experiments or communications satellites, into space.
Engineers and scientists at the Touchstone Research Laboratory are testing various composite materials and components for the X-34 spacecraft vehicle to determine their ability to handle the intense thermal and mechanical loads experienced in hypersonic flight.
More recently, Touchstone's technical staff assisted NASA and United Technologies-USBI in the development of a new, environmentally-friendly thermal protection material. The new material, Marshall Convergent Coating-i protects vital components of the Space Shuttle from intense heat during launch, ascent and re-entry.
Touchstone's performance in support of NASA's Space Shuttle Program inspired United Technologies-USBI to name the Wheeling area company its "NASA Subcontractor of the Year" two years in a row. The company has also been ranked by INC. Magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in America two years in a row.
With such local availability to high quality technological services, Wheeling is well-equipped to take on the changing business and industrial climate.
The Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization (OLETC) was established by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to develop and deploy an active, broad-based, national program to assist in the commercialization of innovative technology for use by the law enforcement, corrections and public safety communities. OLETC's primary objective is to bring research and private industry together to put affordable, market-driven technologies into the hands of law enforcement and corrections personnel.
OLETC can help by providing market research and evaluation; application and competitive analysis; and information on intellectual property, licensing, strategic partnerships, and capital formation. They can evaluate the proposed technology, provide operational demonstration opportunities, and coach participants in project management and commercialization planning.
The focus of OLETC’s commercialization efforts is defined by the priorities of the national Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Advisory Council (LECTAC). Using these LECTAC Priorities, as well as other requirements defined by the National Institute of Justice, OLETC seeks new and emerging technologies with applications for law enforcement, corrections and public safety practitioners. http://www.oletc.org
Healthcare
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Six hospitals
- More than 1,200 acute care beds
- Large clinic supplements care
- Two mental health facilities
- More than 250 physicians and 40 dentists
- Costs more than 25% below national average
The Wheeling metropolitan area has been a frontrunner in the "Wellness Movement" and stands as the medical and health care center of the Upper Ohio Valley and beyond. Wheeling area residents rarely must travel out of the area for their medical needs.
The hospitals have banded together at various times to provide the area with better services. Evidence of this is the joint purchase of an MRI unit which kept costs lower by avoiding a duplicate purchase.
In addition to the hospitals, physicians, insurance and related industries, the Wheeling area has many support services. The Wheeling Fire Department and a number of privately-run services operate ambulances with certified paramedics and well-trained personnel. Many area volunteer fire departments also operate ambulance services staffed with well-trained volunteers. Emergency care in Wheeling is coordinated by the "enhanced 911" system, allowing immediate location identification of callers in distress. Skilled intermediate and long-term institutions, home health care services, hospices and a variety of special services are available in Wheeling and surrounding communities.
Other Medical Services
Emergency care services are offered in the Woodsdale area by Doctor's
Urgent Care.The Wheeling area hosts many home offices of health insurance,
health maintenance and preferred provider organizations. The competition
among services has helped maintain low costs to employers and individuals
as well as offering a variety from which to choose.Hospice and home
health care are available in Wheeling. There is a free medical clinic,
Wheeling Health Right, Inc., which provides free medical care and
prescriptions to those unable to afford health insurance but who
are ineligible for government assistance.
Medical gas and medical supply companies
are also located in the city.
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