Saturday, May 07, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...5-8-'11
- According to a report by the West Virginia Hospital Association, West Virginia hospitals spent more than $721 million on charity care and bad debt in 2009. In 1999, state hospitals spent about $286.8 million in uncompensated care for residents without insurance or who were underinsured. Charleston Area Medical Center officials say the hospital wrote off $18 million in charity care and $20 million in bad debt in 2009. Officials at Thomas Memorial and Saint Francis Hospital, both part of the Thomas Health System, say they paid out about $9 million in charity care in 2009, an increase from about $6 million from the pervious year. West Virginia hospitals admitted more than 250,000 patients, delivered about 21,500 babies, and reported more than 1 million emergency room visits in 2009.
- Robert "Bob" Raines, former president of the Pocahontas Land Company, the late Johnson C. McKinley, a pioneer of the northern coalfields region, Purnal "Judge" McWhorter of McWhorter & Associates and formerly of Phillips Machine Services and the late J. Robert Fletcher of J.H. Fletcher & Co. were inducted into the West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Charleston Friday. The hall of fame, established in 1993, is located in the Mineral Resources Building of the West Virginia University College of Engineering and Mineral Resources in Morgantown.
- Saturday's 11th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure drew an estimated record 8,000 participants. Runners and walkers who took part in the 5K walk and run started at the Capitol Building and made their way to the Southside Bridge and back. The event celebrates breast cancer survivorship, honors those who have lost their battle with the disease and raises money and awareness for the fight against it. Seventy-five percent of the funds raised remain for use in West Virginia to provide breast health research, diagnostics, screenings, treatments, services and education for uninsured and underinsured women, while the remaining 25 percent goes to fund national research for potential cures. Organizers said they hope to raise more than $500,000 this year.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:20 PM 
