WILLIAMSON, West Virginia — Lyle Marcum can't drive to the doctor when he's feeling ill. He couldn't go to a downtown grocery store if there was one, which there isn't. But when he has a hankering for fresh watermelon, he takes his wheelchair across the railroad tracks to where the Williamson Health and Wellness Center operates a farmers market.
As he shops for fresh fruits and vegetables, the 71-year-old stops to chat with the community health workers he credits with keeping him alive. "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here today," he said. Marcum lost his left leg to Type 2 diabetes and has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and heart disease.
He's one of thousands of residents who benefit from the center's work tackling the devastatingly high burden of chronic illness in this small, rural Appalachian community in southwestern West Virginia. At the center of it all are the community health workers, or CHWs, whose job includes helping clients learn to eat healthier and so much more. The CHWs literally keep hearts beating in this coal-mining town along the Tug Fork River, overlooking the Kentucky border.
Williamson is the seat of Mingo County, where the population has been steadily falling for years. (VIDEO: Rural West Virginia's health crisis gets homegrown help) In a state ranked among the least healthy in the nation, where nearly 1 in 3 people describe their health as fair or poor, statistics suggest Mingo County's roughly 22,000 residents face the biggest healt.