New WVU pediatric clinic next to Princeton Community Hospital has ribbon cutting
Aug. 30—PRINCETON — For families in Mercer County and other parts of southern West Virginia, getting special medical care for their children meant driving for hours to reach it, but a new clinic is making those services much more attainable.
West Virginia University Medicine's first telemedicine and speciality clinic in southern West Virginia had a ribbon cutting Monday at Mercer Medical Primary Care, a clinic next to Princeton Community Hospital.
Parents and families, especially in rural areas, often face barriers to getting speciality medical care, said Karen Bowling, president and CEO of Princeton Community Hospital. These obstacles include distance, reliable transportation, the cost of traveling, getting childcare and getting time off from work.
An employee at Princeton Community Hospital now takes her child to the clinic, which had a soft opening last week, Bowling said. This has resulted in big time savings.
"In the past, she had to take an entire day off work," Bowling stated. "Now she can take her lunch hours and take her child to see a subspecialist they normally would have had to travel to Morgantown to see."
Southern West Virginia families can now get the same sort of pediatric medical services that are available in Morgantown.
"Telemedicine and outreach clinics allow patients to receive the same quality care close to home without having to travels," Bowling told the audience gathered outside the clinic. "With the opening of the WVU Telemedicine and Speciality Clinic here at Mercer Medical Group Primary Care, our children will receive safe, high-quality care right here by connecting directly to specialists in Morgantown."
Dr. Maggie Jaynes, pediatric neurology and chief of pediatric telemedicine at WVU Medicine Children described some of the services that are available.
"Right now, we have four specialities. Neurology, gastroenterology, pulmonary and endocrinology," she said. "Then we'll be starting in the next couple of months other specialities and hope to increase it from there. There are about 16 specialities that we do in our telemedicine sites."
Many people played a role in getting the telemedicine clinic to Mercer County, and U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., helped the project, Bowling said.
"Funds added to the fiscal year 2022 Labor and Health & Human Resources Appropriations Bills were instrumental in the opening of the new clinic," she said. "Funding was made available through a Congressionally directed spending request made by Senator Capito. In total, Senator Capito secured $241,135 n direct spending measures for initiatives and projects across West Virginia through the fiscal year 2022 appropriations omnibus package. We are grateful for her help with securing that funding, a small portion of which helped open this clinic."
The WVU Medicine Telemedicine and Speciality Clinic can be contacted by calling 855-998-2273. Mercer Medical Primary Care's office can be reached at 304-557-1160.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
