The Medical Leader is published weekly by Pikeville Medical Center.
NEW* Read the Medical Leader Blog by clicking here!
<< Back
Medical Leader News - ARC exec hears PMC research plans: Agrees to further discussionARC exec hears PMC research plans: Agrees to further discussion
PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Even considering the tremendous growth officials with Pikeville Medical Center have seen achieved in the past several years, President Walter E. May hardly hesitated at all when asked what he thought the next step should be.
“Research,” May said. “We’re getting ready to move into research.”
May was addressing questions from Anne Pope, federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, during her visit to the hospital lastWednesday afternoon. May also had questions of his own for Ms. Pope. One of the largest funding committees for eastern Kentucky and other regions across 13 states throughout Appalachia, ARC held a national conference in Pikeville last week. But before Pope arrived at the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center for the start of the conference, she stopped at Pikeville Medical Center with Pikeville City Manager Donovan Blackburn to speak with May, Special Assistant Jerry Johnson and other hospital administrators.
Pope was quick to say early on that she had ‘Appalachian’ roots of her own.
“This area is part of where I grew up,” Pope said. “My family had stores in Danville and London and I used to travel with my grandfather. We believe that if the problem is in the community, then the solution is, too. That’s one reason that we fund everything at the local level.”
ARC, which Pope said exists on four levels of focus including job creation, infrastructure, people and highways, has helped create over 50,000 jobs and played a part in bringing water and sewer systems to thousands of families, spending about half its money on this effort alone.
Pope, who keeps her office in Washington, D.C., said Pike County has “set the bar” in terms of investing in its own people as a means of moving forward. She noted that Pikeville College’s School of Osteopathic Medicine is a perfect example. The commission approved early funding to see the medical school brought to Pikeville.
“We no longer think it’s enough to have a high school diploma to be competitive,” Pope said. “There has to be work force training, you have to do things like grow your own doctors.”
Hospital administrators have been discussing, planning and aggressively seeking funding for a research center at the hospital in the past few months, and explained to Pope last week that one of the keys would be the study of local genealogy in learning more about prominent diseases in the area.
May said this would be another in a series of steps to see that local citizens did not have to travel as far as Lexington or Huntington, W.Va. to receive treatment. The research center would also attract even more medical and research talent, May said, a point Johnson added to during the meeting. “It makes sense that research be done,” Johnson told Pope, “because of the opportunity it creates for health care. It allows us to treat people earlier, and it’s a total quality of life need for people that you deal with on a daily basis.”
May said giving people in this region the chance to receive highquality health care without driving hours to find it is part of a PMC goal to “overcome the stigma” that in order to find these things, one must leave home. One way to continue the advancements PMC has already made toward improving this situation is to take a unique perspective on how PMC can function for the community it serves, May said.
“I believe in a hospital as an economic engine,” said May. “For some reason, health care doesn’t like to use the word ‘industry,’ but I do. Coal is no longer the largest element driving our economy in this community, it’s medicine. We are in a small town, but we are not a small town hospital. We have to be better than others to get them to come here.”
May noted that if PMC were to receive just half of the patients currently going out of the area for treatment, it would require construction of an entirely new building to accommodate that need.
Pope agreed following last week’s meeting to set aside time later for more in-depth discussion with May and others to see what ARC could do to help the hospital move “to the next level.”
“We love to see what the local community is doing and subsequently plant a seed that grows larger than our investment,” Pope said. “It’s a pleasure to offer funding to those we know will be good stewards of that money.”
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
Comments, Concerns
Joint Commission Contact
©2005-2010 Pikeville Medical Center
E-mail our Webmaster to report Website problems. |
