Health and Community Based Services

Viable health and community based services, including child care, social services, long term care and behavioral health, will be essential both to ensuring a high quality of life for workers and to growing the Appalachian economy during this time of transition. This section spotlights resources in the community based services sector in the region—detailing programs currently available and identifying areas where services need to be expanded.

Stories

• Tender Heart Child Care — There is a myth Janet Butcher would like to debunk. “Child care is not babysitting!” she says emphatically. Janet and her husband, Darrell Butcher, are the owners and directors of Tender Heart Child Care in Johnson County, Kentucky.

Websites and Organizations

• ARC Health Resources
• Christian Appalachian Project
• East Kentucky Child Care Coalition
• Frontier Health
• Hazard-Perry County Community Ministries
• Mud Creek Clinic
• University of Kentucky Center for Excellence in Rural Health

Reports and Resources

• Haaga, John. “The Aging of Appalachia” (April 2004)
• Halverson, Joel. “An Analysis of the Disparities in Health Status and Access to Health Care in the Appalachian Region” (September 2004)
• Kentucky Rural Health Works Program, “Economic Impact Studies of Local Health Care” (multiple publications)
• MACED, “Child Care in Appalachian Kentucky: Financial Sustainability in a Low-Income Market” (January 2008)
• MACED, “Urgent Care: Financing and Health Care Provision in Appalachian Kentucky” (September 2006)
• National Opinion Research Center and East Tennessee State University, “An analysis of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disparities and Access to Treatment Services in the Appalachian Region” (August 2008)
• Project HOPE, “An Analysis of the Financial Conditions of Health Care Institutions in the Appalachian Region and their Economic Impacts” (December 2002)

To suggest a resource or link: info@appalachiantransition.net