"Healthcare Challenges in Appalachia"

What happens when quality healthcare isn’t always close to home? In this conversation, we take a closer look at the challenges facing rural Appalachia—from access and availability to the realities families and providers experience every day. A thoughtful discussion on the importance of healthcare, community, and finding solutions that make a lasting impact.

Transcript

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I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about health care um in Appalachia. And that's not really talked a lot about, and there's a lot of lot of different uh viewpoints to look at it. But what makes health care in Appalachia different from other parts of the country? Access. That's probably one of the biggest things. Um access. Um air transportation, you know, we have no public transportation. I think there's a bus that runs a certain line, but the time frames, you know, very difficult. Um we have a a a large older population, so their mobility in its sense is, you know, um hampered. Um and people don't really want to be all day going to a doctor. Yeah. So, you know, the travel associated with it. So access is one thing. Um, I know we have moved into telemedicine um thanks to COVID. That's opened up greatly, but you have to have the equipment for that. You have to have, you know, good internet or cell phone service, of which limited in our area. Excuse me. And you have to have some form of smart device, either a cell phone or a tablet or a computer or something, and you know, it's difficult. Yeah. So I kind of feel like access is a a big hindrance for just healthcare in general. Yeah. Plus, I think, you know, we have a lot of sick people. You know, we have a lot of diabetes, we have a lot of um heart disease, we have a lot of obesity, um, so many things that lead to so many other problems. And, you know, it it takes work, not just on a provider's point, but on a patient's point too. And that brings you to a whole nother gamut of issues. I mean, transportation, um, you know, food disparities. I mean, we we live in a food desert, so to speak. We have what, one, two, three grocery stores, and you know, we don't have a farmer's market, we don't have a lot of gardening kind of land. I mean, I know people do garden, but it's not like it used to be. Right. Yeah. Um, so access to fresh fruits and vegetables, access to good meats that are not full of antibiotics and steroids and all this stuff. Yeah. You know, not very processed kind of things. Um there's so many things. And it's just it's kind of hard sometimes to see the silver lining or the way out of it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And oh my gosh, exercise. Where do we have to exercise that's safe and well lit and accommodating? Mm-hmm. I mean, we don't have that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say, what are some of the biggest health challenges facing Southern West Virginia specifically? I hate to harp on it, but I feel like number one is obesity. I really do. I think um because of so many environmental issues, um, you know, obesity is a big thing. And that leads to so many other things. Or it compounds other things. Yeah. You think it the obes obesity is because of the resources that are limited here? I do. Yeah. I think that's some of it. Um, some of it is just personal habits. It's so much easier to grab a not very healthy item to eat on the go. Um as opposed to really watching. And then, you know, you gotta take into insurances, Medicaid, Medicare. That's that's our prominent insurance in this area, how little they do pay for like weight loss. Um, it's just it's it's a horrible roller coaster of everything intermingled and tied together to be able to do it.