WVU Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologists and surgeons travel to outreach clinics to deliver lifesaving care in Appalachia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For many West Virginians, transportation is the greatest barrier to accessing healthcare. This is why WVU Medicine physicians, like Abbas Ali, M.D., WVU Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologist, travel across the state to bring care to some of the state’s most medically vulnerable populations.  

“It is fundamental to our core belief and purpose-driven mission to provide enhanced access to the much-needed care that our state citizens deserve,” Vinay Badhwar, M.D., executive chair of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, said. “It is through the dedication of our many physicians and staff, like Dr. Ali, that we are able to help fulfill that mission.”

WVU Medicine partners with hospitals and clinics across the state to provide in-person and telehealth visits to patients with a wide range of medical conditions. For Dr. Ali and many physicians like him, spending hours on the road each week is a choice they voluntarily, and gladly, make to help those who would not otherwise have access to care.

“I saw an 80-year-old with a third-degree heart block who told me that she did not want to be transferred out of her town and would rather simply die there,” Ali said. 

“She would rather stay in her community and die than be transferred for a simple half-hour to hour-long life-saving procedure that can be provided with imaging and an operating room. This experience inspired me to provide pacemaker services through our clinic in Elkins. She was sent home the same day and is living a normal life.”

Over the last 10 years, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute clinic in Elkins has grown to provide a wide range of services, including Cardiology and Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, to patients from the area.

“Elkins is a beautiful town settled in the mountains, but it’s location in the state makes it particularly difficult for patients who need advanced care for cardiac conditions,” Ali said. “Many of the patients we see do not have access to technology, and our patients from Greenbrier County don’t even have cell phones because of restrictions from the Green Bank Observatory. This is an enormous barrier to telemedicine, leaving in-person care as their only option.”

The current WVU Heart and Vascular Institute Cardiology Clinic in Elkins will be moving to a temporary location in mid-May following Davis Medical Center’s termination of the agreement for both the physician services and current lease. There will be limited-to-no interruption in services anticipated.

“Our primary goal is to save lives and our community outreach clinics allow us to reach our patients in their communities,” Ali said. “We will continue to provide the same high-quality care they have come to expect from us where they are able to access it.”

The WVU Heart and Vascular Institute has plans underway for expanding capacity and testing services in Elkins in a permanent location. The clinic will continue to use the EPIC platform to provide seamless testing, results, and communication across providers in the WVU Medicine system and patients alike, using the MyWVUChart app. The platform helps reduce the need for retesting, allows medical providers to access information from across the system regardless of care location, and delivers more timely results.  

“We know how important in-person care is to members of this community,” Frank Briggs, WVU Heart and Vascular Institute vice president, said. “We are dedicated to continuing to provide Cardiology, Thoracic, and Vascular care for the people of Elkins and surrounding areas today, tomorrow, and in the future.” 

For more information on the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, visit WVUMedicine.org/Heart.