Help Wanted
Central West Virginia Aging Services is hiring caregivers to serve elderly and disabled residents across the state. The nonprofit organization, which has been providing in-home services since 1974, has seven offices throughout West Virginia. Read more →
This story brought to you paywall-free, courtesy of the My Buckhannon team and our community partners
Community Care of West Virginia broke ground Tuesday on its new Integrated Health and Education Center, a $20 million, four-story building that will bring primary care, behavioral health, pediatrics, a pharmacy, a fitness center and a community education hub together in the heart of downtown Buckhannon.
The center will be built at 25 North Kanawha Street, on the lot where the Moose Lodge once stood. Construction is expected to take about two years, with major work anticipated to begin this summer.
For CEO Patricia “Trish” Collett, the shovels of dirt turned Tuesday marked the culmination of a project more than seven years in the making — and the latest chapter in a story that started in a small clinic in Rock Cave.
“More than 45 years ago, a community came together, knowing they needed health care,” Collett said. “A community of volunteers that, through a lot of blood, sweat and tears, built a primary care clinic and hired a physician to meet their needs.”
That clinic, the Tri-County Health Clinic, grew into Community Care of West Virginia, a federally qualified health center that now serves some of the most rural areas of north-central West Virginia across Upshur, Randolph, Pocahontas, Lewis, Harrison, Braxton, Clay and soon Wetzel counties. In her 26 years with the organization, Collett said, the pattern has never changed: every time Community Care opens a new facility, it quickly runs out of room.
The new building is designed to break that cycle. Community Care first confirmed plans for the four-story facility in early 2024 and later presented the design to Buckhannon City Council, describing it as an integrated system that would double the space available for primary care.
“This building will not only allow us to expand primary care and behavioral health services, but we will also be adding a fitness center for our patients to utilize at no cost, a drive-through pharmacy and an education center on the fourth floor that will include virtual reality classrooms,” Collett said.
The work will be handled by High Point Construction, with Collett recognizing the firm’s team, including Travis Shaw and Dave Smith, during Tuesday’s ceremony. She said one of the things she appreciates most about the contractor is its reliance on local workers and subcontractors, which keeps the project’s dollars circulating in the community.
“The nice thing about High Point is that they are utilizing local talent, local subcontractors to keep money locally,” Collett said. “I’m very proud that we are going to be able to keep working people here and use local investment.”
The project is being financed through a mix of federal, state and local sources.
Todd Gunter, representing U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, read a statement from the senator, who secured $1.25 million in congressionally directed spending for the first phase of construction. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and chairman of its subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, Capito said she was “uniquely positioned to advocate for federal investments” in communities across the state.
“I want to be very clear, this is not the federal government’s money,” her statement read. “This is your money, and I will work to continue to bring as much of it home as possible.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will assist with much of the remaining funding. Steve Collins of USDA Rural Development said the agency is providing an $18 million loan toward construction.
“Rural Development has a program for just about any type of community issue you might have — housing, business, water, wastewater, community facilities,” Collins said. “But in this particular case, like food, shelter, good water, everybody needs quality health care.”
Collins credited the partners who assembled the deal, including the Region VII Planning and Development Council, the Thrasher Group and Citizens Bank, which is providing the interim construction financing.
“Like I tell my colleagues at USDA, a good project starts with a good project team,” he said. “We had that here.”
Under plans Community Care outlined earlier this year at a Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce meeting, the first floor will house pediatrics and the drive-through pharmacy, the second floor will be dedicated to primary care, and the third floor will hold behavioral health services, including psychiatry and therapy.
The fourth floor is a work in progress. It will house an education center — with virtual reality classrooms and space the public can use — aimed at training the next generation of health care workers and expanding workforce development in the region.
Community Care’s Care Express and Main Street locations will remain in service, with the Main Street primary care office converting to administrative space as those services shift to the new building.
The groundbreaking drew a lineup of local, state and federal officials who framed the project as part of a broader regional resurgence.
Buckhannon Mayor Robbie Skinner called it “a testament to our community” and “more than a building — a new care source for Upshur County and the surrounding community.” He pointed to recent milestones across the region, including new development in neighboring Randolph County, where Corridor H recently opened a new section and a downtown event center is set to launch this summer.
“Our region is in great shape, and we are proud of what we’re accomplishing together here as a cooperative region, and this is a piece — a big piece — to that puzzle,” Skinner said.
Upshur County Commissioner Kristie Tenney, speaking on behalf of the commission, said the project represents “an investment in the health and future of our community.”
“This new integrated health and education center will expand access to quality health care, while helping train the next generation of health care professionals,” Tenney said. “Projects like this strengthen our workforce, create jobs and improve the quality of life across Upshur County and beyond.”
Rhett Dusenberry, representing U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, said Community Care has a way of drawing other investment with it.
“It always is interesting whenever Community Care goes somewhere, it’s like they’re an anchor,” Dusenberry said. “It’s rural health care moving in the right direction.”
Lauren Winans, from Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office, called the fourth-floor training center one of the project’s most exciting features.
“There, we will help train the next generation of doctors, nurses, therapists and health care professionals who will understand, love and serve some of West Virginia’s most rural communities,” Winans said.
Board President Dr. Rosemary Thomas said the growth Community Care has pursued over the years has never been growth for its own sake.
“It’s not growth for the sake of growing, it’s strategic growth, it’s growth that is built upon a foundation of need and answering that need,” Thomas said. “It’s growth that is solidified by roots that go deep in this community and in every community that we serve.”
She said the organization’s name is no accident.
“It’s not a health care facility, it’s Community Care. It’s about people that care for one another, people who are interested in investing in wellness,” Thomas said. “We can dream bigger, we can do more, and we can certainly care more. And that starts here with a shovel of dirt.”
Collett closed the ceremony by thanking the partners, board members and staff who carried the project forward, with a special nod to former CEO Rick Simon, whose vision she credited with shaping the organization. Then she looked ahead.
“I hope you’re all as excited as we are to watch this building grow from the ground up,” Collett said. “We anticipate inviting you all back here again in two years when we cut the ribbon and welcome you to Community Care’s Integrated Health and Education Center.”
