'You are the healers:' Kenny credits Dickenson County people for health care outreach

When dignitaries gathered for the groundbreaking of the Sister Bernie Kenny M.M.M. Clinic in Clintwood Oct. 24, the namesake of the new facility turned attention not on herself but to Dickenson County.

"You are the healers," Kenny told the crowd gathered at the Happy Valley Industrial Park. "We learn together how to take care of each other."

It is the people of Dickenson County, Kenny said, who have done that over the years by "offering a hand up, not a hand out, empowering each other to take better care for ourselves and our neighbor."

Kenny said the people here "are the life blood of our nation and have so much to offer." When the politicians visit here and depart, she said, "that go away saying, 'wow, wow, wow' " at what they have witnessed.

Kenny said she was grateful. "I have so many feeling in my heart that are real," she said. "It is in gratitude to each one of you."

Kenny, who is with the order of Medical Missionaries of Mary, founded the mobile clinic with support from the former St. Mary's Hospital. A nurse practitioner, Kenny undertook traveling the back roads of Dickenson County in an old Winnebago to reach those in need who could not afford traditional health care or even to transport themselves to get it. Today, The Health Wagon has three mobile units serving its patients as well as a clinic in Wise.

Founded in 1980, The Health Wagon is the nation’s oldest mobile clinic and the free clinic serves medically underserved patients in Dickenson, Buchanan, Russell, Wise, Lee and Scott counties and the city of Norton.

Land for the new clinic was donated by the Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority.

The need for a new clinic in Dickenson County has been urgent, The Health Wagon says. It has been located for years in crowded quarters in downtown Clintwood.

The new building will provide desperately needed space and services, it says, including private examination rooms, optometry diagnostic spaces and dispensing, radiology, a medical laboratory, pharmacy, consultation offices, conference room and provider support spaces.

The Kenny clinic also will house state-of-the-art telemedicine technologies so patients can access clinical specialists at tertiary medical centers.

Services of The Health Wagon are provided at no cost and the organization is fully funded through grants and donations. It has made significant progress with generous contributions from donors, foundations and grants, including a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Other speakers at the groundbreaking included Dr. Joseph Smiddy, medical director and board president of The Health Wagon and Tamarah Holmes, ARC Program Manager, with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development

Health Wagon Executive Director Teresa Tyson and Clinical Director Paula Hill-Collins, also spoke.

The Health Wagon expresses thanks for each donation made to this lifesaving project and specifically notes the contributions of the Titmus Foundation, the Ludwick Family Foundation, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia and the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The Health Wagon is a nurse practitioner-managed clinic providing free medical, dental and vision health care services.

For more information about The Health Wagon, call 276-328-8850 or visit www.thehealthwagon.org.