MOOREFIELD, Wv. (WHSV) - On Monday in Moorefield, Hardy County held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility that will be the new home of the Hardy County Health Department. The $3.5 million project has been in the works for several years and will help address needs in the community.
“We are so thrilled not only for the health department but for the citizens of our county because this facility will do a lot to help improve the overall quality of life and health of our community,” said David Workman, President of the Hardy County Commission.
Workman said the previous County Commission had already determined the Hardy County Health Department had outgrown its space before he was elected in 2018. This project has been in the works since then, with the property the new facility will be built having been acquired by the County before the COVID pandemic.
“It’s been an interesting few years with the pandemic and all of that. It’s been an interesting time for health. We did manage to get the money from the USDA and our state legislature, then we put aside some of the monies that we had from the pandemic to put into this as well. So we’re going to have a nice, new, modern health department to serve the health needs of our citizens,” said Workman.
The project is being funded with $500,000 from the county, $2 million from the State of West Virginia, and a $1 million grant from the USDA. West Virginia U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito helped secure the federal funding and was on hand for the ceremony.
“Health care delivery in rural areas is always difficult, and Hardy County has such a growing and diverse population. We found out that the health department is in the basement and they had a great plan with the county commissioners to deliver health care whether it’s through a drive-through or working with the schools, all different ways that rural America needs to be served,” said Moore Capito, a Republican who represents West Virginia.
Capito said the federal funding process was competitive, but Hardy County’s planning and partnerships made it a great project to support.
“I’ve represented Hardy County for a long time, and community leadership is absolutely critical. It’s always been very good at looking after individuals in the county and expressing their needs, and so while there is a competition for dollars obviously they put together a good package,” she said.
David Workman said that Hardy County learned many lessons from the COVID pandemic and that the new facility will help it handle any future national medical emergencies much more effectively.
“We went to work with a lot of shortcomings and shortfalls during the pandemic, but we were able to meet those needs and serve the needs of the people for vaccines and other health needs,” he said.
The new facility will provide the county health department with much-needed space and expand the programs it can offer. This is vital for Hardy County as its Health Department plays a large role in the community’s medical care.
“We have a large number of families that use the services of the health department not only for immunizations and regular health checkups but to an extreme or to a volume that is probably unmatched anywhere else in the State of West Virginia,” said Workman. “The health programs that the health department manages to promote overall health and wellbeing will be enhanced by the opportunities that we will have to place staff in new and modern facilities.”
Hardy County expects the construction of the new facility will take about a year and hopes to open the doors sometime next April.