WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), announced 11 funding awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for health care education; facility construction, acquisitions and renovations; and treatment resources in West Virginia.

These awards, which were secured through Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests made by Ranking Member Capito in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), will be used to improve medical emergency response resources, open and expand medical education facilities, and increase treatment options in West Virginia for a variety of medical conditions.

“Whether it’s expanding our pipeline of health care professionals through educational resources or securing funds to make sure emergency services are available in our most rural areas, I am constantly working to expand the scope and quality of West Virginia’s health care infrastructure,” Ranking Member Capito said. “These CDS awards will expand emergency services, provide the capital to raise our standard of care, and help deliver better treatment outcomes in West Virginia. I’ve worked closely with our health care providers and educators to listen and identify their most pressing needs, and these awards will supplement the great initiatives they are taking. As Ranking Member of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue to partner with local leaders to prioritize West Virginians’ health and work to ensure they get access to the care they need and deserve.”

Individual award details listed below:

  • $15,000,000 HHS CDS award to the Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc. (CAMC) (Charleston, W.Va.) to create a state-of-the-art Neurosciences Institute to better serve the citizens of central and southern West Virginia. The establishment of a Neuroscience Center will provide a cutting edge facility for its neurologists, neurosurgeons, endovascular neurosurgeons and other clinical professionals to be ready at all times. The Neuroscience Center will allow CAMC to combine all of its neuroscience specialists in one space for team-based patient care, educational instruction, research support, patient management, and other critical functions. It will drastically improve the effectiveness and efficiency of CAMC's program and do so in a more sustainable manner.
  • $7,415,000 HHS CDS award to the Applied Research Foundation of West Virginia (Bluefield, W.Va.) to help southern West Virginia reduce health disparities, improve access to healthcare services, and help develop healthcare infrastructure in the area. Bluefield State University acquired the former Bluefield Regional Medical Center from Princeton Community Hospital to convert unused space into an educational facility to increase capacity to train more healthcare workers. Bluefield State offers programs in health care administration, education, imaging science, radiologic technology, nuclear medicine, and nursing. This facility will allow expansion over time to add Radiologic Technology and other healthcare programs, including dental hygiene, mammography, respiratory therapy, and surgical technology.
  • $6,428,000 HHS CDS award to West Virginia University (WVU) Children’s Hospital (Morgantown, W.Va.) for the build out of three additional inpatient shelled areas between its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Birthing Center and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), inclusive of its Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) and Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU). In the NICU, Birthing Center, and PICU the hospital consistently runs over an 80% occupancy rate and at times closer to 100% or greater.
  • $6,000,000 HHS CDS award to Pocahontas Memorial Hospital (PMH) (Buckeye, W.Va.) to help construct a $7.3 million addition and expansion onto the existing hospital that will include an expanded emergency room, a new operating room for outpatient surgeries, and an ICU. This expansion is critical for PMH to meet the growing healthcare demands of residents in the five-county service area, including Pocahontas, Nicholas, Greenbrier, and Randolph counties. PMH is the closest healthcare facility within an hour's drive for most Pocahontas County residents. This expansion phase focuses on enlarging the existing emergency room, including an operating room for outpatient surgeries and an ICU. This will provide revenues for the hospital through procedures like endoscopies, pain injections and other outpatient surgeries. Additionally, it will equip hospital staff to better handle severe trauma cases from Snowshoe Mountain Resort and other areas.
  • $3,059,000 HHS CDS award to Fairmont State University (Fairmont, W.Va.) to relocate and expand the university’s Nursing Simulation Center and update its Skills Lab. The upgraded systems and technology within this revitalized space will more accurately simulate the workflow of a true hospital setting, positioning future nursing graduates to meet the demands of the healthcare field. Improving these facilities will increase public health and strengthen the regional economy by helping the College of Nursing produce highly qualified graduates.
  • $3,042,000 HHS CDS award to Florence Crittenton, Inc. (Wheeling, W.Va.) to expand Crittenton's Center for Young Women and Children services for young girls, mothers, and babies by constructing two new specialized, therapeutic, high-acuity, homes designed to meet the full array of unique behavioral and mental health needs. They serve young girls, ages 12-21, providing highly specialized trauma-focused mental and behavioral health treatment. Crittenton plans to construct two new, small ranch homes to be licensed as residential healthcare facilities aptly named Crittenton's Center for Young Women and Children. Each facility will house up to seven young girls and allow Crittenton to reduce the on-going utilization of out-of-state adolescent residential services.
    • This CDS award was secured solely by Ranking Member Capito.
  • $700,000 HHS CDS award to Grant County, W.Va. to construct an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Building in the Mt. Storm area of West Virginia. The proposed EMS building would have space for two ambulances and sleeping quarters for four personnel. This would allow for 24-hour coverage on the mountaintop.
  • $500,000 HHS CDS award to the Morgan County Partnership (MCP), Inc. (Berkeley Springs, W.Va.) to employ a comprehensive, evidence-based initiative that addresses generational and root causes of youth trauma in this underserved, Appalachian community. This initiative will include family-centered, community-based interventions to provide trauma-informed evidence-based programming to youth in both school and afterschool settings, along with therapeutic supports. MCP will implement programs and services that mitigate the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and expand evidence-based interventions focused on ACEs prevention, diversion, and therapeutic treatment for youth impacted by trauma.
  • $500,000 HHS CDS award to Morgantown Community Resources (MCR), Inc. (Morgantown, W.Va.) to expand the Hazel's House of Hope Day Services Center (DSC) to provide space for these services and other recovery-focused programming related to health and life-skills. These services require a safe, secure environment so that clients can give their full attention to the program. The expanded programs will promote necessary work and health-related life-skills.
  • $500,000 HHS CDS award to Hospital Development Co. (Spencer, W.Va.) to construct an ambulance center at Roane General Hospital to create a “home-base” for emergent transport services at the Hospital and backup community 911 calls. The gap that this project will fulfill is to provide a structure for the housing and maintenance of the actual ambulance vehicles and equipment on the hospital's campus, along with space for the education and housing of its 24-hour staffing.
  • $350,000 HHS CDS award to the Prestera Center for Mental Health Services, Inc. (Huntington, W.Va.) to replace worn roofing with new, installed, waterproof roof. The programs in this building are important to the community and the clients. Programs include short-term residential treatment for men and women separately; long-term residential treatment for women with children; and efficiency apartments for recovering individuals or “recovery housing.” The roof cannot be repaired, it must be replaced.

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