Memorial Hospital Sets Up at the SOAR Innovation Summit

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Manchester Memorial Hospital (MMH) was represented at the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) Summit by the Marketing and Plant Services teams to highlight the work of the hospital in the community.

SOAR, a non-profit entity and bipartisan effort, was created by Governor Steve Beshear and Fifth District Congressman Hal Rogers in response to a staggering growth in unemployment and poverty which resulted from the downturn in the coal industry in Eastern Kentucky.

The SOAR Innovation Summit served as a marketplace for ideas and collaboration on how people and companies can work together toward building the future of Appalachia. With topics from economics to food systems and community health, the SOAR Summit brought in over 1,000 attendees and 100+ booths.

Amongst these booths were two from MMH; Randy Craft and Joseph Franceschelli from Marketing and Community Outreach showcased MMH's Summer Fitness program and highlighted the importance of lifestyle choices related to overall health. They focused on the individual benefits of eating better and moderate exercise to reduce risk for diseases like stroke, type two diabetes and heart attack.

David Watson, Executive Director of Engineering/Plant Services partnered with Red Bird Mission and the University of Tennessee to display their water kiosk and its impact on local rural communities. They denoted the cost difference between water from their kiosk and, a regular bottle of water, and a bottle of pop (with the cost of water from the kiosk being 25 cents). Also at their booth were materials related to establishing a water kiosk, how they operate, and their many community benefits.

Having the opportunity to network with other innovators in Appalachia and put our minds together as we share what were doing to grow our community is an awesome experience, said David Watson. This Summit provided us with lot of tools and a fresh view on projects coming up in the future.

If you want to know any more about how MMH is working towards serving our community, contact our Community Outreach department at 606-598-1095.

*published in the Manchester Enterprise

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