WYTHEVILLE, Va. (WDBJ) – The Governor’s Summit on Rural Prosperity kicked off Tuesday at the Wytheville Community Center.
From local farmers to state leaders, hundreds of people are attending the 3-day event to honor the culture that our hometowns bring to the table, and discuss solutions to the issues they may face.
“It’s important that all government meetings don’t occur in the City of Richmond, that we get out and get amongst the people with that we serve,” said State Senator Creigh Deeds (D-11).
Hurricane Helene, rural economic development, healthcare and hospital shortages were just a few topics tackled at Tuesday’s summit.
Vicki Parks, the CEO of Wythe County Community Hospital, says she knows what working in a rural hospital is like and hopes the summit will highlight the need for help with things like the cost of medication, as well as transportation to the hospital and other significant issues facing our area.
“We are the only hospital in about an hour radius that delivers babies, still, Wythe County Community Hospital delivers babies. We deliver over 300 a year. That’s increasing because the facilities around us have stopped. It’s a real issue. They call them OB deserts for a reason, because there are no students going into OBGYN. So it’s a real concern,” said Parks.
The lack of broadband in the area was another prime topic of discussion.
“I literally was talking to someone yesterday and they were like, hey, the issue that I have around some of the telemedicine is that I don’t have broadband in my house. We have made huge investments. We have huge federal investments in the Commonwealth of Virginia making huge investments in broadband and we know that that’s going to end up benefiting all of Virginians, especially those in rural areas,” said Don Scott, Virginia House Speaker.
Governor Youngkin was also in attendance and shared that the willingness to help one another through good times and bad is what Southwest Virginia is all about.
“At the end of the day, we are working together to unleash prosperity. The lesson hopefully we have all learned is that when we lock arms together, we can move mountains,” said Youngkin.
State leaders will be at the summit until Thursday to discuss and provide more updates on the issues that matter.
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