It’s been 20 years since the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st century, or the Berger Commission, said Westfield Memorial Hospital should be turned into a diagnostic treatment center.

The community rallied on the hospital’s behalf, with the state choosing to reverse the Berger Commission’s recommendation, giving Westfield Memorial Hospital five years as an Article 28 licensed hospital. Those five years gave hospital officials time to look at its health care system and find ways to make improvements and provide services more effectively to the community.

Fast forward two decades and Westfield Memorial Hospital has taken on a new role as a Rural Emergency Hospital, a new Medicare provider designation established to support struggling rural hospitals, allowing them to continue providing essential services without having to maintain inpatient beds. Westfield Memorial Hospital will transition from a small inpatient hospital to a 24/7 emergency, observation, and outpatient care facility.

It’s somewhat the best of both worlds. By not keeping inpatient beds the hospital can operate more efficiently. But, keeping its emergency room protects care access for patients in Westfield and the surrounding area. That’s especially key during the winter months, when it’s harder for patients in Westfield’s circle of care to make it to Dunkirk or Jamestown. Moving forward, most patients who require an overnight inpatient stay will be transferred to AHN Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie, Pa., about 35 miles away.

Hospital administrators and board members have put in a lot of work over the past 20 years to save the hospital, right-size its operations for the market it’s in and protect an emergency department that is sorely called upon by residents in its corner of Chautauqua County.

With the benefit of hindsight, the Berger Commission was right and wrong with its recommendation for Westfield Memorial Hospital. The hospital couldn’t continue on the path it was on in 2005 and remain financially viable. But closing the hospital — particularly its emergency department — was also the wrong call. It took two decades, but it appears Westfield Memorial Hospital has found its niche in the ever-changing health care world.