Coplin Health Systems Celebrates Busy Summer Supporting the Community

Improved access to services, strong partnerships, and a focus on wellness highlighted summer community efforts.

By Rob Dudley, Chief Executive Officer, Coplin Health Systems

At Coplin Health Systems, our mission is to serve the health and wellness needs of our communities. Our commitment to community health is at the heart of everything we do. As we believe health and wellness extend beyond the clinic exam room, we’re committed to engaging with our local communities in meaningful and impactful ways.

We reinforced that commitment throughout the summer months. We created and took advantage of multiple opportunities to better serve patients and our communities by making healthcare services more readily available, strengthening community partnerships, and emphasizing community and employee wellness.

Given all we accomplished this summer, I want to recognize our staff for their hard work, energy, and passion. They not only helped make our community efforts possible, but they also made them successful.

Here are some of the ways we at Coplin served our communities this summer.

We Innovated to Improve Access

Access to care is a top priority for us, and we’re committed to making healthcare services more accessible to everyone in the communities we serve. As many community members are unable to come to us, we are innovating to bring care to them.

We announced the first community-based mobile unit location, St. Francis Xavier Parish Hall in downtown Parkersburg, W.Va., where our mobile unit is now on-site every second and fourth Wednesday of the month.

We’re also excited to strengthen our partnership with the Fort Frye School District in Washington County, Ohio. By bringing our mobile unit to the Fort Frye campus every Monday, we provide students and community members with access to wellness services, preventive care, sports physicals, walk-in appointments for acute care, and vaccinations.

We Supported Community Initiatives

Coplin was proud to support multiple community events and initiatives during the summer months.

The Summer Salute to Veterans event we sponsored at Spencer’s Landing in Vienna, W.Va., in June brought area military veterans and their families together for a fun, festive day celebrating their service and providing opportunities to learn about available resources for veterans.

Also in June, as part of Coplin’s year-round efforts to shed light on the diabetes epidemic and promote diabetes prevention, we again teamed with the City of Ravenswood, W.Va., to host the ninth annual Dash for Diabetes 5K Walk/Run. This event promotes diabetes awareness by encouraging participants and attendees to practice healthy eating and routine exercise.

Through our partnership with FARMacy WV and the West Virginia University Extension Family Nutrition Program, this summer we were again able to provide fresh, local produce to our patients and their families, along with nutrition information and resources to help those with chronic conditions eat healthier.

Our team also attended the Women’s Leadership Conference in Wood County, hosted by the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley. This was an inspiring opportunity to collaborate with community partners and join the conversation on how we can collectively address community needs.

 We Promoted Wellness, Inside and Out

Promoting wellness was a priority for Coplin this summer, both in the community and within our organization.

Our staff joined Wirt County 4-H at Camp Barbe, Elizabeth, W.Va., to offer classes and instruction to area youth on the importance of healthy habits and wellness.

We also promoted wellness for our employees and staff through the evolution of our internal wellness committee, with the involvement and support of our executive leadership team. We offered a robust calendar of events and activities for our people that promoted a holistic approach to wellness, including focusing on both physical and behavioral health. 

We Made Changes to Better Serve Patients

Toward our efforts to make healthcare services more accessible, affordable, and convenient, we took steps to make it easier for community members to receive care.

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the patient experience, we reviewed the pathway to becoming a new patient and restructured our processes to make it easier for patients to schedule an initial appointment. As part of this initiative, we reviewed our registration and patient intake forms to ensure that they are easy to understand and complete.

We also entered into a new partnership with Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) LabWorks outreach laboratory that enables Coplin to continue providing high-quality in-house lab services across our locations.

Looking Ahead

As we enter the final few months of 2025, we at Coplin are excited to build on our summer momentum to deepen our commitment to community health.

For the months ahead, our plans include expanding our on-site and telehealth capabilities to better serve local schools and expand the acute care services we provide to students.

We will also expand our mobile unit reach and capability with the addition of a second mobile unit, made possible through the Health Resources & Services Administration’s (HRSA) Behavioral Health Expansion Grant.

Through the generous support of Sisters Health Foundation, we have purchased mobile dental equipment and will begin rolling out mobile oral health services, beginning with providing required dental exams to students in communities where there isn’t a local dental clinic.

And, of course, we plan to continue actively supporting community partners and events, focus on health education, and promote wellness for our community members and our own staff.

We are excited about the next few months and beyond, and we look forward to Coplin Health Systems continuing to lead the way in making the communities we serve stronger and healthier.

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About Coplin Health Systems

In 1978, Wirt County Health Services Association (d.b.a. Coplin Health Systems) was established as a non-profit healthcare organization. Since our beginnings in Elizabeth, WV, we have grown into 13 service centers, an administrative center, and a mobile health unit with locations in Wirt County, Jackson County, and Wood County in West Virginia, and Meigs County in Ohio.

For over two decades, Coplin has served as a federally qualified health center (FQHC). As an FQHC, Coplin Health Systems offers a variety of healthcare services to the community. These healthcare services include primary care services, acute/urgent care services, pediatric healthcare services, behavioral health services, substance use disorder (SUD) services, dental services, an

d discount pharmacy through 340B programming. As an FQHC, Coplin Health Systems offers these services regardless of a person’s ability to pay through our sliding scale program. Coplin Health Systems exists to serve the health and wellness needs of our communities. Visit coplinhealth.com to learn more