Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center
recognized by national group for community-based health services
Necessity can be the mother of invention, particularly
when it comes to creative health care partnerships.
Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center has recently been recognized by the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services.
The group said "What we are seeing here is a rural county serving as a nationwide example of what people can do when they put their minds to it."
The visiting group was so impressed with the Minnie Hamilton Center, they wrote an article entitled "Crisis Spawns Innovative Model in West Virginia Town."
CEO Barb Lay said "I am very honored that what we have accomplishment in our community to received this attention."
"It is really wonderful for MHHCC to receive this recognition," she said.
Crisis Spawns Innovative Model in WV Town
In early 1996, with the Calhoun General Hospital
on the brink of closing, the board of the Minnie
Hamilton Health Center in Grantsville
charged into the unknown by voting to become
the first Federally Qualified Health Center to
assume operation of a general acute-care hospital.
Had the hospital closed, area residents would have
been miles of mountainous terrain away from basic
emergency services. In 1999 the hospital was
converted to Critical Access status.
MHHCC complex stretches across hillside above Grantsville,
delivering a wide variety of medical and community-based services
 The newest addition is the Dental and Medical Facility beside the hospital
The Minnie Hamilton Health Center, which the
Committee visited in September, demonstrates the
power of community commitment to local health
care.
The Center has made capital improvements
and expanded to offer day care, ambulance transport,
mental and oral health services, school-based
health clinics and physical therapy.
It also operates
a 24-bed long-term care facility that enables
Calhoun County seniors to remain in their home
community. Altogether, the Center employees 180
individuals, making it the second largest employer
in the county and is an important contributor to
its economic base.
The Committee noted that the Center has also
successfully integrated its health care and human
services delivery.
The Center works with the
Calhoun County Committee on Aging (CCCOA).
Health center outreach employees conduct a senior
citizens wellness program that provides health information
and fitness counseling to area seniors.
The Center also used a portion of a Community-
Based Initiatives grant to construct a walking trail
for senior citizens.
CCCOA reaches out to elderly
residents of the Center's Long Term Care Unit and
includes them in Committee activities such as shopping
trips and travel opportunities.
Minnie
Hamilton Health Center CEO Barbara Lay views
their close community outreach as nothing more
than a typical aspect of the local culture in this rural
West Virginia community.
"People in Calhoun
County have an innate ability to care for one another,
and we see that here every day," Lay said.
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