Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH)

Appalachian Regional Healthcare inc. (arh), is a not-for-profit health system operating 14 hospitals (nine of which are included in this return) in barbourville, hazard, harlan, hyden, martin, mcdowell, middlesboro, prestonsburg, west liberty, whitesburg, paintsville and south williamson in Kentucky as well as beckley and hinton in west Virginia. Arh also operates multi-specialty and family practice clinics, home health agencies, home medical equipment stores, and retail and specialty pharmacies in these and surrounding areas. Arh employs more than 6,000 people with most recent annual payroll and benefits of more than $350 million generated into our local economies. The majority of these employees reside in the same communities that arh serves. Arh also has a network of 600 active and courtesy medical staff members. Arh is the largest provider of care and single largest employer in southeastern Kentucky and the third largest in southern west Virginia. The company has been ranked as one of the top ten employers in Kentucky by forbes magazine, and is consistently recognized for its medical excellence.arh has put a major focus investing in significant neuroscience growth, including cutting-edge telehealth emergency room service as well as teleneurology clinics and inpatient services across the arh system.arh communities can count on arh hospitals to provide the best in stroke care whether at the bedside or via its new telestroke and teleneurology patient care and monitoring program. With a shortage of neurologists in the united states, especially in rural areas, telestroke and teleneurology programs allow expert-level care from a neurologist in our local community. Several arh locations added the new telestroke and teleneurology patient care and monitoring program. The telestroke program allows arh to provide time-critical diagnosis treatment such as the clot dissolving drugs (thrombolytics) used to treat the most common type of stroke. Providing telestroke and teleneurology services give all patients in appalachia a better chance of stroke survival and recovery.it is part of arh's mission to improve the health and well-being of the residents it serves through partnerships with our communities. One such example was the barbourville arh hospital partnership with union college to open the arh campus health center-union college offering acute and chronic care, including annual wellness exams, cold and flu treatment, diabetes management, women's health and school, sports and work physicals for men, women and children of all ages.arh strives not only to provide its communities exceptional medical care, but also to build public awareness of warning signs and tips for prevention of common health conditions in our area through free educational sessions. During many of these educational events, free health screenings are offered to further improve the health of the residents arh serves. Arh strongly promotes the importance of preventative health screenings and each year arh facilities provide a number of free routine health screenings. To encourage women to get annual screening mammograms, each year arh also offers discounted mammogram screenings during october's breast cancer awareness month, which coincide with awareness events held throughout the month. The norton healthcare/uk Healthcare stroke care network recognized tug valley arh Regional medical center for its work in public awareness and community education with the "service award" for stroke awareness.arh also is a strong advocate of good nutrition in our communities and held farmer's markets at some hospital locations bringing locally sourced fresh fruits and vegetables to visitors, patients and employees, which in turn supported local growers.in efforts to prevent the spread of the virus the covid-19 pandemic and in adhering to guidance from public health officials that cautioned against large mass gatherings, the majority of the in-person education and outreach activities normally held in these communities had to be halted during this time. However, the system was still able to provide more than $3 million in community benefit activities to more than 47,000 people. While the majority of in person events ceased, arh embraced technology to continue our outreach endeavors by offering health education and outreach activities through online health webinars.arh values our relationship with the school systems in each of our communities. We have worked to provide covid-19 information and education to school staff as well as worked to protect them by providing needed supplies such as hand sanitizer and reusable face masks for students in each arh community.throughout the pandemic, arh has been at the forefront of response, treatment, and prevention. We have relied on the collective stability, resources, and strength that a multi-hospital system such as arh can offer to provide the 23 counties we serve in Kentucky and west Virginia covid-19 education, testing, treatment, and now vaccinations.arh has put cdc-recommended measures in place to provide the safest possible care during the covid-19 pandemic. During this time, arh has embraced technology to provide our communities with robust virtual care options designed to ensure our patients receive the safest manner of care for their health conditions and comfort levels. Some options include virtual office and specialist visits in addition to a curbside care option where staff brings the electronic device out to the patient's vehicle for the visit. This option has proved helpful for patients without access to smartphones and other devices or limited internet access.arh also looked to technology as it prepared for the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine. To streamline the vaccination process throughout the communities we serve, arh launched a centralized online vaccine scheduling system to allow our community members to get on the list for the vaccine. Joining in efforts to boost vaccination numbers in the states we serve, arh has worked to make getting a covid-19 vaccine as easy as possible for our communities with some locations offering a drive-thru option that allows the patient to remain in the safety of their vehicle when getting the vaccine. Other locations have offered a traditional vaccination system or a hybrid vaccination model that allows a patient who needs to receive the vaccine from their vehicles, to receive the vaccination there, while others go inside to a designated area inside the building for their vaccinations. Outreach efforts have also included providing vaccinations for local school systems and students. Vaccination is also a simple process for arh employees who are required to be vaccinated.