CHARLESTON, W.Va. –West Virginia Health Right, a non-profit committed to bringing healthcare to undeserved communities, now have another mobile unit to add to their growing list of services that they provide for communities in West Virginia.
WVHR CEO Dr. Angie Settle, alongside Governor Patrick Morrisey and First Lady Denise Morrisey, cut the ribbon to the new Mobile Teaching Kitchen unit on the Governor’s Mansion Lawn Monday morning. A cooking demonstration followed shortly after the ribbon cutting.
The unit is fully equipped in order to go to these communities and bring them healthy food education that they can take back to their homes.
The new unit joins a long list of services that they provide to more than 45,000 undeserved adults from 34 counties, including medical, dental, vision, behavioral health and pharmacy services.
Settle said that the addition of the Mobile Teaching Kitchen, it helps them stay on track with their mission.
“This great new mobile teaching kitchen really just an extension of what we do at Health Right,” she said.
The new unit will offer hands-on nutrition education, healthy cooking demonstrations, and preventative health outreach.
The unveiling is also in conjunction with Gov. Morrisey’s goal to make West Virginia healthy again, with his “Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia” that he launched earlier this year.
He said that this new unit gives residents the chance to see that these foods are available to them and how to cook with them.
“Now this isn’t just about watching someone cook, it’s about reconsidering the way we cook in our own homes and showing folks that healthy, affordable food is within their reach,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey also promotes his Mountaineer Mile challenge he launched in February.
Settle agreed that this is much more than providing health education to those who normally wouldn’t receive this.
“Is to simply teach people how to live healthier lives, food is medicine it’
s not just a prescription that a doctor writes you in the office, it’s what’s you put in your mouth, and we control that,” she said. “And yes, you can do it on a budget and yes it can be tasteful.”
Morrisey said that in order to make a change, the first step is learning about and watching what you eat, along with exercise.
“At the heart of this movement is the simple truth, getting healthy, involves exercise but also starts with the food that we eat, and every meal is a choice, and all those choices certainly add up,” he said. “That’s why talking about nutrition is not a side conversation in our health strategy, it’s the main focus.”
Settle said that this new unit, along with the other mobile units, also is all about going to residents rather than making them travel to get help.
“It’s about reaching people where they are, and that’s what this great program is going to do, we’re going to meet people in a community, at church events, fairs, festival and show them yes, this is how you do it,” she said.
The new Mobile Teaching Kitchen join their dental and medical services mobile units.