“ Boone Memorial Hospital includes our 25-bed critical access hospital facility , but we have grown to become so much more . The hospital ’ s original leaders had a philosophy of people helping people and being a vital part of the community ,” says BMH CEO Virgil Underwood . “ As an organization , our leaders and board of directors plan to take that philosophy to new levels , and our new brand reflects our vision of making the communities we serve better places to live , work , learn and play .”
To help implement that vision , Underwood announced the hospital ’ s official launch of the BMH Foundation for Community Health . Established earlier this year , the foundation has a mission to improve community health by addressing the social determinants of health throughout the communities it serves . Social determinants of health include economic stability , access to quality education , safe neighborhoods and living environments , social and community connection and access to quality health care .
The BMH Foundation for Community Health , led by BMH General Counsel and Chief External Affairs Officer Ray Harrell , plans to accomplish its goals through programming and education , managed projects and operations , grantmaking to other nonprofits and governmental entities , community events and partnerships .
“ The foundation will be supported by existing hospital financial resources and personnel , fundraising and collaborating with community partners to not only secure federal , state and private grant dollars but to work together toward our shared goals ,” Harrell says .
During the press conference , the BMH Foundation for Community Health distributed more than $ 200,000 in grant awards to community partners that included the City of Madison , the Town of Danville , Scott High School , Boone County Parks and Recreation and the Southern West Virginia Community College Foundation .
Congresswomen Carol Miller was present for BMH ’ s celebration .
“ I ’ m thrilled to join the Boone Memorial Health team to celebrate its rebranding and unveiling of the BMH Foundation for Community Health ,” Miller says . “ Today represents the next chapter in this organization ’ s mission to care for and invest in Southern West Virginia . The hardworking doctors , nurses and administrators are the bedrock of Boone Memorial , and I thank them for their tireless work to keep our loved ones healthy and communities strong . I look forward to watching the new foundation support our region for years to come .”
WVSOM ’ s Just Say KNOW to Drugs Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Just Say KNOW to Drugs camp activity .
It was a milestone year for the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine ’ s ( WVSOM ) Just Say KNOW educational camp for ninth through 12th graders . The program , celebrating its 10th anniversary , returned to its roots with the theme of Just Say KNOW to Drugs , the topic that launched the camp in 2013 .
The weeklong camp , which took place June 13-17 , 2022 , focused on pharmacology , the science of how drugs act on the body . In recent years , themes have included Just Say KNOW to Anatomy and Just Say KNOW to Neuroscience .
WVSOM medical student interns Patrick Votel and Madison Robinson led this year ’ s camp , with assistance from undergraduate interns Lexie Mizia and Hunter Wamsley and under the direction of biomedical sciences faculty members Crystal Boudreaux , Ph . D ., and Karen Wines .
Faith Ketron , of Shady Spring , WV , has participated in Just Say KNOW for four years . In her final year as a camper , Ketron says the program instilled in her a passion for health care that she ’ ll take with her this fall to Concord University in Athens , WV , where she hopes to begin the path to a career in health care , whether as a cardiologist or an emergency medical technician .
“ I definitely benefited from the exposure to medical school the camp gave me ,” she says . “ It really lets you see what it ’ s like to study topics that help people live healthier lives , and it gives you hands-on , in-person insight into what you ’ re getting into if you decide to attend medical school .”
First-time attendee Maxton Lopez , of Oak Hill , WV , says he enjoyed the camp and hopes to return .
“ I loved all the people I got to meet and the things I got to see ,” Lopez says . “ I learned about opioids and other kinds of drugs and what each of them do inside your body . In the anatomy lab , we got to see a brain , lungs , kidneys and other organs , which was amazing . You ’ re not just constantly hearing lectures , you get to do different kinds of activities , so it ’ s fun .”
Students spent the camp ’ s first day touring WVSOM ’ s research facilities and listening to an introduction to pharmacology and a lecture on the history and mechanisms of opioids . They participated in a tie-dye activity demonstrating the concepts of bioavailability and pharmacokinetics , learning why drugs administered intravenously have a higher absorption rate than drugs given orally . Campers also played a game in which they threw cornhole bags representing the medication naloxone into squares representing opioid receptors to block them , in the same way naloxone can block the effects of an opioid during a drug overdose .
On the second day , students heard lectures on two common antibiotics , penicillin and vancomycin , and learned how they are used to treat infections . To reinforce their understanding , campers built models of peptidoglycan cell walls using Lego pieces and used them to demonstrate how antibiotics work .
On the morning of the camp ’ s third day , campers visited the school ’ s Clinical Evaluation Center , where they saw WVSOM ’ s human-patient simulators , learned how emergency medical personnel stop bleeds , participated in a virtual reality medical simulation and viewed a demonstration of moulage , a technique used to mimic the appearance of injuries for training purposes . In the afternoon , they studied drugs that affect the sympathetic nervous system . Using models made from straws and balloons ,
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