Mimi Ferguson grew up in Barbour County, West Virginia, where any medical emergency meant a long and anxious drive. For her family, that reality hit hardest when her brother was in a near-fatal car accident on a remote mountain road.
“He was transported 45 minutes to the hospital in Elkins, and the weather was bad. So he actually had to wait at that hospital before he could be life-flighted to Ruby Memorial [in Morgantown],” Ferguson said. “The hospital he was transferred to in Elkins is only a level one trauma center, so there wasn’t very much help that they could provide for him there, other than to get him prepped and ready to be life flighted.”
Ferguson’s story reflects a challenge many West Virginians face: living in what experts call a healthcare desert. These are areas with limited access to hospitals, primary care, pharmacies and emergency services.
Across West Virginia, there are zero rural emergency hospitals. More than half of West Virginia’s counties, stretching from the Eastern Panhandle to the southern coalfields, are designated as medically underserved. That means fewer doctors, fewer hospitals, and longer waits for anyone who needs care.
While residents struggle to access basic medical services, the state actually has the highest medical student-to-population ratio in the nation — 88 medical students for every 100,000 people.
But the problem is keeping them in the state after graduation. Only about 20% of medical students get a job in the state. Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean of West Virginia University Health Sciences, says it’s a major challenge.
“If a student or a physician finishes their last part of their training in West Virginia, 77% of those physicians stay,” Marsh said. “If they leave West Virginia for the last part of their training, only 7% of those physicians came back.”
Marsh and WVU Medicine officials say they’re working to both expand access to care and retain more healthcare graduates in the state. But they also acknowledge it’s a challenge that goes beyond one institution. West Virginia faces a projected 14% shortage of physicians and a 19% shortage of registered nurses.
Medical student Sophia Flower says she hopes to stay and practice in West Virginia — but she understands why many of her peers move elsewhere.
“There’s a lot of different opportunities out of state. Especially if you’re going to be a specialist. So any sort of surgeon or internal medicine specialist, there’s not a ton of opportunities unless you’re at a big academic institution. So in West Virginia, there’s only a few, whereas other states have a lot more,” Flower said.
But for Ferguson, every new medical emergency feels like testing her family’s luck. She believes the state needs to take a more active role in supporting rural healthcare.
“The state could probably improve their funding of those programs, and the training opportunities for people to receive.”
For now, she and her family continue to hope that someday, better healthcare access will reach all corners of West Virginia.
This article was adapted from a television news story using AI. All reporting, facts and quotes from sources are original. AI was only used to assist with formatting and style for a digital platform.