A History Lesson On Pawpaws And Financial Woes At Rural Hospitals This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, we learn about the ancestral connection the Shawnee have to the pawpaw fruit that grow and ripen this time of year throughout Appalachia. Also, in this show, we learn about the financial challenges at rural hospitals as they deal with impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.

Health officials around the Ohio Valley estimate the region’s hospitals will lose more than a combined $2.7 billion this year due to effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Hospital budgets are squeezed by the extra costs of protective equipment and the lost revenue from postponement of elective surgeries. As Corinne Boyer reports, that’s threatening the viability of rural hospitals.

Fall is the season for one of Appalachia’s most fantastic treasures – pawpaws. If you’ve never tasted one, it’s kind of like the love child of a banana and a mango. It’s also one of the foods many indigenous people lost when they were pushed away from their ancestral lands. But not completely lost. Because it turns out, they carried the pawpaw with them. Inside Appalachia Folkways reporter Brian Koscho has more.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning