Summers County Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Child Behavioral Telehealth Services Coming To W.Va. Underserved Rural Areas

Already underway in the Summers County community of Hinton, a prototype program is offering mental health support for pediatric patients with diagnoses including depression, anxiety and ADHD disorder.

A prototype program is offering mental health support for pediatric patients in the Summers County community of Hinton. Diagnosis and treatments include depression, anxiety and ADHD disorder.

The new program is a collaboration between Appalachian Regional Healthcare and Marshall Health Network. On appointment days, patients visit a rural health clinic, and are connected virtually to a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). In addition to conducting initial psychiatric evaluations and follow-up appointments, the PMHNP also prescribes and evaluates psychopharmacologic treatments alongside a collaborating psychiatrist.

Dr. Susan Flesher is the Department of Pediatrics Chair at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. She said psychiatric care is the perfect place for rural telehealth.

“It’s a little bit hard for us sometimes to think about a child coming in to look in an ear or listen to a heart,” Flesher said. “Those things take more technology on telehealth. With the care that we’re talking about, it’s a matter of talking with the child, the family, figuring out what the issues are, what the concerns are, doing some screening tests, providing therapy, medications, whatever the case may be. It’s perfectly suited to telehealth.”

Flesher said the program offers access to specific medical professionals that otherwise would not be readily available.

“There is a real shortage of psychiatrists and mental health nurse practitioners in rural areas,” Flesher said. “This is a service that they otherwise would not be receiving, or would have to travel a long distance to receive.”

Flesher said the Hinton program is a first step of an anticipated child mental telehealth network.

“We are in talks with some other places to expand this,” she said. “We don’t have signed contracts in place yet so I’m not necessarily free to speak, but we are definitely trying to provide this service where it is so very much needed, and there seems to be a lot of interest.”

The program is accepting new patients by referral. For more information, contact the Summers County ARH Rural Health Clinic at 304-466-2918.

Hinton Railroad Days Festival Gears Up For The Weekend

Thousands of visitors are expected to make their way to Summers County in southern West Virginia for the Hinton Railroad Days Festival this weekend.

The four day festival coincides with daily train rides from Huntington to Hinton on the Autumn Colors Express. The trip offers scenic views of the fall colors of the New River Gorge. All four trips are sold out after two years without making the trips because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event also features live music on two stages, food and local vendors. Music acts include Randy Gilkey, the Lincoln County Cloggers, and the Parachute Brigade.

There will also be a public lecture about the settlement of Summers and Monroe Counties at the McCreery Conference and Event Center on Friday afternoon.

The Hinton Railroad Days Festival is Thursday, Oct. 20 – Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022.

County Health Administrators Rise To Vaccine Delivery Challenges in Southern WV

County health department administrators in West Virginia are meeting daily to determine their next steps to getting West Virginians vaccinated as more doses become available and the state plan expands.

Administrators in Southern West Virginia say this statewide coordination effort has helped them to receive information quickly, even as it is evolving weekly with new groups like teachers included in vaccination groups.

Chad Meador, administrator of the Summers County Health Department, said after the state gives the orders, county departments, pharmacies, clinics and other medical establishments have two days to obtain the vaccines. COVID 19 vaccines are kept at five hubs across the state, including at the Osteopathic School of Medicine in neighboring Greenbrier County.

“We either have it delivered to us from one of the five hubs across the state by the West Virginia National Guard, or we go pick it up,” Meador said. “We elect to go pick it up.”

Officials say there have been some hiccups along the way across the region such as unorganized lines in Mercer County during the first day of public vaccination for those who are 80 years or older. Mercer officials moved things to a larger facility and called on local law enforcement to help with traffic.

In Summers County, Meador says the original challenge was simply having enough vaccines. After vaccinating residents who had made requests, the county was left with about 50 so they opened a community vaccination clinic. It was supposed to start at the Hinton Freight Depot at 11 a.m.

“I got there at 7:30 a.m. because something told me to just get there early,” Meador said. “People were already there. I had directed my staff to be there at 9 a.m. to begin just the planning process going over things.”

By 9:40 a.m. there were already 50 people in line. Meador says they probably turned away 75 to 100 people.

“That was very promising because I guess the silver lining for that day was it told me how many people really wanted the vaccine,” Meador said. “I think that’s going to continue, as the days move forward.”

Managing the unexpected during COVID-19 vaccination efforts was expected, but Meador says it comes with the mission of public health.

“We’ve responded to many crises throughout the years,” Meador said. “In Summers County we have a flood it seems like every five years so. We are called, we stop what we’re doing and we take care of it. We’re not necessarily primed and ready for a pandemic but we have a staff here who’s just equipped.

He added: “When you come into public health, you’re wanting to help people, and it kind of gets in your blood. We feel like it’s our task to do that. And we’re going to see it through.”

County health departments right now are focused on providing vaccines to people 80 years or older in the general population. According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources website, professionals such as frontline workers and educators also have early access. Information about those vaccines should be attained through their employers.

September 12, 1872: The Big Bend Completed

The Great Bend Tunnel, also known as the Big Bend, was completed in present-day Summers County on September 12, 1872.

At more than a mile long, it cut off a seven-mile meander of the Greenbrier River and was the longest tunnel on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.

About 800 men—many of them African-Americans—worked on the tunnel’s construction. The crew drilled through hard red shale that disintegrated when exposed to air, causing many rockfalls and landslides. Although the exact number of deaths will never be known, many construction workers lost their lives on the project.

Great Bend’s importance to railroad construction is undeniable, but the primary reason we remember the tunnel is a bit more debatable. According to tradition, the tunnel is where John Henry defeated a steam drill, becoming one of the world’s best-known folk heroes. While it’s not known for certain whether John Henry was a real person or whether he achieved his immortality at Great Bend, it’s clear that this heroic story of man over machine resonated with a 19^th-century America that was rapidly being transformed by modern technology.

Five W.Va. Counties to Receive Land & Water Conservation Grant

Five West Virginia counties will see federal funding to support improvements to their outdoor facilities.

Nearly $800,000 in federal grant money has been awarded to facilities in Tucker, Summers, Wayne, Marshall and Berkeley counties.

The grant comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides matching funds to state and local communities for acquisition, development and conservation of public parks and open spaces.

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito released statements in support of the grant. Both cited the potential for growth in the state’s outdoor recreational opportunities.

The grant will support various improvements such as restoring a swimming pool, installation of some water and electrical services, and construction of picnic shelters.

Individual awards include:

$400,000 – City of Benwood to restore the swimming pool at Benwood City Park. This includes a new filtration system, gutter system, floor slabs, wall panels, decking, electrical upgrades, shade structure and ADA accessibility.
$184,871 – The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks to assist in the installation of water and electrical services to 32 sites in an existing campground at Pipestem State Park.
$100,000 – City of Parsons to assist in the installation of ADA compliant restroom fixtures and to construct a parking lot for their new splash pad at Mill Race Park.
$60,000 – Berkeley County Council, the City of Martinsburg and the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks and Recreation Board to assistant in the construction of two group picnic shelters, one at Faulkner Park and one at War Memorial Park.
$33,113 – City of Kenova to assist in the rebuilding and restoration of the tennis courts at the Dreamland Pool Complex, in compliance with the ADA.

The Big Bend Completed: Sept. 12, 1872

The Great Bend Tunnel, also known as the Big Bend, was completed in present-day Summers County on September 12, 1872.

At more than a mile long, it cut off a seven-mile meander of the Greenbrier River and was the longest tunnel on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.