Friday, September 6, 2019

Pikeville Medical Center gets $4.78 million from federal abandoned-mine fund to establish a regional children's hospital

The Pikeville Medical Center will receive a $4.78 million federal grant to establish a regional children's hospital.

“The grant will provide a children’s hospital that will fill the gap in the region’s health care network with a complete continuum of care from birth through adulthood," Donavan Blackburn, the hospital's CEO, said in a news release. "This investment in Eastern Kentucky will help us reach out beyond the walls of the hospital to broaden the scope and deepen the value of what we can provide the region’s youth."

"The grant was included in $34.4 million in funding for various projects highlighted at the annual Shaping Our Appalachian Region, or SOAR, summit in Pikeville," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He details how the money was allocated, adding that the grant was the largest of 20 revealed by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and Gov. Matt Bevin, who is seeking re-election.

The grants are part of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Abandoned Mine Land Economic Development Pilot Program, which was "shepherded" by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rogers, who have since helped secure $105 million from it for Kentucky projects, like the one to establish the children's hospital, says the release.

“As a top-notch pediatric facility, the PMC Children’s Hospital will provide care to Kentucky children in the heart of Appalachia and help them develop a lifetime of healthy living,” McConnell said in the release. “Today’s announcement is an investment in the future of Eastern Kentucky and its families, and its benefits will be enjoyed for years to come.”

The hospital announced its plans last November to invest $7 million to relocate and expand its pediatric clinic into a children's hospital, saying it would create about 200 jobs.

At the time of the original announcement, Hazard's WYMT-TV reported that the first step of the project would be to expand the PMC Pediatrics Clinic. WYMT reported "the facility will include 17 state-of-the art examination rooms, along with in-patient beds and services."

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