Published May 1994 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Extending Health Care To Rural West Virginia
On my most recent trip through Southern West Virginia, I travelled to Northfork in McDowell County to participate in dedication ceremonies for a new health care facility that will serve local residents. The drive to McDowell County underscores one of the key elements of health care delivery in our state: access to doctors, nurses, and medical facilities. For a state like West Virginia--with many small communities nestled in mountainous terrain--the ability to get to a doctor or to a medical facility is crucial to those seeking health care. In my ongoing effort to improve and expand health care in West Virginia, I have concentrated my energies in two areas: outreach programs, and health care delivery on the local level, such as the new Northfork clinic, a satellite facility of the Tug River Health Association, Inc., located in Gary. The new health care center, for which I added $500,000 in funds to the federal budget, will afford close-in primary dental and basic health services to people in the Northfork area, without the need first to travel to distant hospitals and clinics. The Northfork facility-which also required local matching funds and which is operated, in part, by local volunteers--demonstrates the importance that many rural West Virginians attach to having primary health care near at hand. Outreach programs are also critical to health care in West Virginia, which will be the primary mission of the Southern West Virginia Center for Rural Health, a Huntington-based facility for which I added $4.5 million in federal funds to a 1993 appropriations bill. The new facility in Huntington--for which ground will be broken soon--will serve the health needs of a dozen West Virginia counties: Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, Mingo, Logan, Boone, McDowell, Wyoming, Mason, Roane, Putnam, and Jackson. To further meet the health needs of West Virginia's rural population, I have supported the establishment of the Mountaineer Doctor Television (MDTV) network. Since 1991, I have added more than $2.8 million to federal funding bills for MDTV, which affords physicians in a growing number of rural health facilities access to expert assistance from the West Virginia University Medical Center and the Charleston Area Medical Center via two-way, interactive television hook-ups. These innovative health programs promise genuine improvements in rural health care in our state, and should make important contributions to the health of thousands of West Virginians in the years ahead. May 18, 1994