The Center at LMHS Brings Modern Health and Community Spaces to Newark, OH

Licking Memorial Health Systems

A new Licking Memorial Health Systems development is shining brightly on the growing health care horizon, with the soon-to-be completed The Center at LMHS, slated to open in late 2026. The $26 million structure is the newest addition to Licking Memorial Health Systems, an independent, not-for-profit organization that has been serving the Licking County community for 128 years. It comprises Licking Memorial Health Professionals, Licking Memorial Health Foundation and Licking Memorial Hospital. The new center is being built on the main hospital campus. 

Licking Memorial Health Systems

Providing Much-Needed Space

The nearly 35,000-square-foot center will champion LMHS’ mission to improve the health of the community. During the last three decades, the organization has grown from about 900 staff members to over 2,600 employees, resulting in space becoming a premium at the main hospital campus. 

“This facility is a great investment for LMHS and our community,” says LMHS President and CEO Rob Montagnese. “With continual growth, we have expanded needed patient services and technologies, resulting in a lack of dedicated space for learning and community engagement. The Center at LMHS will offer an additional area needed to accommodate clinical and community educational classes, meetings and events to further the LMHS mission to improve the health of the community.” 

Modern, Well-Equipped Facility

According to information provided by LMHS, the new center will offer a modern, well-equipped facility featuring versatile event spaces, both indoor and outdoor, to accommodate a variety of program formats and audience sizes. The venue will feature a Grand Hall with a 500-guest capacity that can be partitioned into three separate meeting rooms, each with a capacity of 120-plus. An additional meeting room will be dedicated for clinical training, education and internal orientation. The facility will also have a boardroom accommodating 52 people, a spacious atrium, a covered outdoor patio and a full-service kitchen. The project received $3 million in financial assistance from the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund, which helps fund projects that will benefit communities across Ohio. Additional generous gifts were provided by private individuals and foundations. 

Licking Memorial Health Systems

Profound Commitment to Serving Others

Dave Mason meets each day at Licking Memorial Hospital, a part of Licking Memorial Health Systems, with a singular but profound focus on serving and supporting others. 

“I feel what I do is definitely not a job, but a calling in this season of my life,” says Mason, director of pastoral care. “I never feel like I have to go to work. I get to go to work. It is an honor to be here.” 

A graduate of Cincinnati Bible College, he was a local pastor for 35 years and often found himself making hospital visits. Later, he applied and was hired for a part-time opening in Pastoral Care at LMHS in 2021 and stepped into his current position in June 2023. There is a chaplain on-site from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, but chaplains are available around the clock. The key responsibilities of the chaplains, who also include Cory Campbell and Cheryl Simpson, are providing moral, spiritual and emotional comfort for patients, their friends and family, and staff during vulnerable and challenging moments. They respond to code blue calls – indicating a patient needs immediate medical care – trauma cases in the emergency department, patient room visits, and are available to offer a listening ear and provide coping skills when a staff member needs to decompress. The talented team also leads an oncology support group at the hospital and one at Shepherd Hill, a nationally accredited behavioral health treatment center, and occasionally they will offer an educational program for the community about the importance of advanced care planning. Away from the hospital, Mason has played guitar for 50 years, is a part of his 
guitar for 50 years, is a part of his church’s instrumental worship group and enjoys picking everything from the Beatles to bluegrass tunes.